TLK IV: The Corrupter
by Cogitor
Summary: With the coronation of a new King, the future smiles upon the Pridelands once again. But what worth has the future if you have yet to come to terms with the past? And so, as everyone is prepared to move forward, Rafiki makes them look back one last time..
1. Prologue

**Foreword**

To whomever it may concern,

Here it is, part one of a new issue in my fanfic-saga about the Pridelands. As you can see, the Prologue more or less picks up where 'Dawn and Dusk' left off. The same is true for the first few chapters. However, since the story will quickly switch to become a prequel, I made sure you don't have to read 'Dawn and Dusk' to understand what is going on. So don't worry, just read and enjoy.

Special thanks to: _TakaPL_ and _MinisterSweetGoodKid _(pen-names) for their support.

* * *

**Prologue**

It takes two to corrupt – the corrupted and the corrupter.

_Mobutu Sese Seko Koko Ngbendu Wa Za Banga_

"Fast-thinker…"

"What is it you ask of me, my master?"

"My pupil… what is it you see… tell me what it is you see."

"Sure, whatever… wait… that was meant metaphorically, right?"

Rafiki sighed profoundly, then hit his cheetah-mount on the head with a clenched fist.

"Aw!"

"Great Kings of the Past, why is it, that in the battle of my patience against the rest of the world's stupidity, my patience always seems to be on the losing edge?"

"You really didn't have to hit me, you know, you could just say 'No, son, I need you to describe what your eyes see, for I am blind, and I have pitted my trust in you to be my eyes from now on'."

"Or I could just hit you on the head and get exactly the same results," the mandrill chuckled, "Let this be a lesson: if you can get the same results by brute force an asking nicely, chances are brute force works just as quick, and is more fun."

"That sounds awfully immoral…"

"Enough complaining, don't drive me towards the 'brute force'-argument again. Just tell me what it is you see, and by that I mean describe the scene in front of you to me, preferably in an agreeable manner."

"Sure, if you insist…

As the red sun creeps over the horizon, our golden plains awaken. All trees stand proud and tall, their lush green leaves basking in the gentle morning sun. The yellow grasses are swept up by a soft breeze, undulating gracefully below my mesmerized eyes.  
Then suddenly, like thunder, it rolls down the lands.  
Deafening,  
Intimidating,  
Majestic,  
Regal,  
The lion's roar. It engulfs us all, forces us to listen, bids us to turn our heads.  
Then there it is, standing tall, casting a long shadow across the lands, a shadow that seems to cross the boundaries of time itself, a shadow of the past. Priderock. Cold and grey, still seemingly dark in the early sunlight, yet strangely appealing too. Hypnotizing, as if it draws and centers all life around it. The hearth of these lands. The Throne to the Kings, in life and beyond, being so much more than can ever been seen or felt. Words do not begin to describe it, save for one, maybe: it is Priderock.  
As the lion's mighty roar still echoes across the lands, all heads are lift up in awe. They turn to stare. Is it the new day they are greeting? Or the sun, our lifegiver? No, all heads turn and stare at Priderock. All animals turn and stare, not to the new day, not to the eternal lifegiver. They look upon their Leader. They look upon The Leader. The King of Beasts, the Lord and master of Priderock, the Sovereign of the Plains. Before them sits the Lion.  
Another roar shatters the sky.  
The beasts of the plains now know what to do. One by one, they turn towards Priderock, they start to move. Forming up in lines, columns and close formations, they begin their march towards the center of the lands which pulls them like rain is pulled towards the earth. Herd, horde, family or pack, all of them instinctively form up in orderly closed order. No commands, no instructions, no talk. As if guided by invisible paws, the enormous animal mass forms up. If one was to see, he could only agree: this just was what had to be.  
Drawing ever closer, side by side, oblivious to one another, the crowd grows ever more compact, in an unnerving display of ever growing discipline.  
Elephants, zebra's, vultures and leopards, gazelle or buffalo, it didn't matter who: they surged forward as one, their eyes fixed forward, their faces all locked in the same resolute expressions. For that one single day, race or fur mattered none, for in the end, everyone just became part of one huge anonymous mass, jackbooting forward until suddenly, they all came to a stop. All in fixed ranks and lines, there they stood, in front of the Rock.  
And as if they too seemed obliged to blend into the mass, the few clouds up in the sky formed up as well, covering the entire crowd in shadow as the sun rose above them, save for one, thin line of divine light running right through the middle of the crowd, all the way up to Priderock…"

"… and that's our cue. Ceetah, forward!" Rafiki grinned, kicking the cheetah in the flanks. The big cat let loose an annoyed snarl because of the mandrill's redundant arrogance, but he started slacking forward all the same, towards the huge animal crowd in front of them.  
As the cheetah trotted down the hill he had been sitting on at ever increasing velocity, Rafiki had trouble suppressing his urge to shout 'Yeehaw', but he reasoned that would probably get him thrown off. Besides, it wasn't really appropriate for the occasion.  
As they reached the animal mass, it suddenly split open upon their arrival, not unlike a moving herd would upon encountering a tree while running. This huge herd in front of them, however, was standing perfectly still as it split into two. The cheetah felt rather intimidated actually, he hadn't ever seen anything like it before, and chances were he'd never see anything like it again in his lifetime. Rafiki, however, had already gotten quite accustomed to the this particular occasion, and thus had no trouble in picturing it exactly, even without being able to see it.

"Don't flinch, Cheetah, just move forward. Move into the light…"

It was only now that the cheetah noticed the crowd had parted along the thin line of sunshine; before him lay a empty sun covered boulevard in an ocean of living, breathing shadow. As a slight shudder ran down his spine, the big cat put one paw into the light, then another, and another, until he found himself nervously striding through a dense animal mass.  
Upon the passing by of the Shaman and his apprentice, the crowd did not only part, but it bowed as well, still locked in an eerie silence. When the Shamans had passed, the animals got up again and closed the ranks once more.  
The cheetah cautiously moved forward for what seemed to be the better part of a lifetime, until he finally reached Priderock. He was greeted by four lionesses standing guard at the ramp onto Priderock, and they too bowed as the Shaman passed.

_I never thought I'd live to see a lioness bowing before me, let alone four of them!_

After having clambered up to the plaza at the base of the Rock, more lionesses greeted them, about ten of them. They seemed to form some sort of corridor to guide the cheetah towards the way up to the Rock. Once again, all bowed down. Much to his own embarrassment, the cheetah noticed he started panting of fatigue as he moved further up.  
Then, finally, he reached the Rock, the huge promontory from which all the Pridelands could be seen and governed. Before being able to climb up, though, he still had to pass by one lioness standing in his path, grand in her demeanor, rather large and intimidating, with a sandy fur.  
For the first time in months one could detect certain traces of joie de vivre on that grand lioness' face, although it couldn't mask out the fact she was getting old, and her recent past had certainly contributed to that. She gently smiled a the cheetah, then slowly moved aside to let him pass. As the Shamans moved up to the Rock, the lioness followed in their wake.  
About halfway the Rock sat a tanned lion, not particularly tall though certainly quite muscly, with peculiarly dark and fashionable manes, a calm demeanor and a hard stare in his deep green eyes that gave him the air of a true, determined leader. It gave him the air of a King. He protectively stood before a smaller, golden furred and lively, but obviously tired lioness that lay a bit further away on the Rock, seemingly huddled around something or someone still obscured from view.  
Before they could reach the tanned lion, however, the Shamans still had to pass by two lionesses that were flanking the promontory, both lean Outlanders. The one on the right seemed surprisingly bored at the entire happening, staring out in front of her as if she couldn't care less, in spite of the obvious spectacle going on all around her The other lioness, easily recognizable by the out-off-bed tuft of hair on her head, however, was staring at the dark lion, obviously moved by what was going on. Upon hearing the Shamans approach she turned her head towards them.

* * *

Kiruhu almost startled again as he saw the lioness' face. He'd seen it countless times already since that one awful day, but he still hadn't gotten used to it. Not that she looked all that different though, she still had that same old mischievous look she'd always had, except that she seemed to have rapidly aged a bit in the past months, starting to get more and more of the patrician looks her father had had. But her once famous blue eyes… only one remained. The left eye, however, was now tainted in grayish white, devoid of all color, and possibly all life. The deep scars around her eye-socket healed rapidly, but that one blind eye would always stand testimony of the many hardships the lioness had already endured in her still young life.  
Vitani smiled at him. And to Kiruhu's content, it was a smile of sincerity. What else could he do but grin back as he passed by, even if that didn't fit the solemn duty he had to fulfill at all?  
As Kiruhu kept slacking forward, the dark lion started approaching him and Rafiki. The cheetah couldn't help but think the lion grew with every step of his striding paws. The look on the lion's face was unmistakably that of one with regal ambitions. In front of the lion, however, hopped a rather large green hornbill, who stopped only inches away from the cheetah. As he bowed, his wings swept in circular motion, pointing at Kovu.

"_Your Grace_, _Revered Mister_, I present to you: _His Royal Highness The Prince Consort _KovuRegent of the Pridelands."

Both Shamans humbly bowed their heads as the hornbill moved out of the way to let pass Kovu. Their heads were still bowed down when Kovu stopped in front of them.

"Good, Kiruhu, you have done enough. I'll take him from here," the lion smiled as he put his paw on the mandrill's shoulder. Obediently, Kiruhu bowed trough his knees to accommodate for Rafiki getting off, whilst keeping his head bowed in the process. As soon as Rafiki stood on his own feet again, the ape's hand grabbed the lion's paw, and slid up until he found the lion's shoulder.

"Lead the way, your Royal Highness."

As Rafiki and the lion slowly and carefully made their way forward, Rafiki and the hornbill in turn groveled further back, until they were at the same position as the two lionesses standing guard in front of the promontory, by now accompanied by the older, larger lioness Kiruhu had passed whilst still down on the plaza. He sat down next to Vitani, and observed the rest of the spectacle in silence.

Now guided by Kovu, Rafiki slacked forward until they reached the lioness that was still lying down. Once they had arrived there, Kovu slowly put Rafiki's hand from his shoulder onto the head of the lioness.  
As Kovu went and sat down next to the lioness' back, lovingly placing one of his paws on her abdomen, Rafiki moved around the lioness, towards what it was she was huddled around. It actually looked kind of silly, since he kept his hand on the lioness' head all the way through. Once he was close enough, however, he could feel the lioness urging him to stop, after which the ape could feel her taking his hand of her head and guiding it down gently. Then Rafiki suddenly felt it: a soft, short fur from which seemed to radiate a tender warmth. He could feel a little paw, a little tail, and eventually a soft little head. From here on, he'd be able to pretty much operate on instinct.  
He put down the staff he'd been holding in his free hand, then tried getting hold of one of the few pieces of fruit he had attached to top of his staff the previous evening. As he could only rely on his touch, it took him longer than usual to get hold of the right fruit. Eventually, he did find what he was looking for however. Using his keen mind that was adept at estimating distances without being able to see, he remembered the position of the little lion-head he'd been stroking, and then used his both hands to crack open the fruit he had selected. Careful not too spill to much of the goo inside, he used the bigger half of the cracked fruit-shell to store the liquid. Whilst still holding the improvisatory cup, his hands scraped together some of the scarce dust from the rock below him. Whatever sort of dust that was, was entirely up to the winds of destiny that had blown it up the Rock.  
The Ape now mixed both ingredients together carefully. He then scraped some of the now yellowish brown substance from the improvisatory cup with one hand, whilst the other one located the little lion's head again. Then, in one fluent though careful motion, he smeared the substance on the on the little cub's forehead.  
The King had been crowned.  
Rafiki picked up the cub, which had remained quite (and probably scared) throughout the entire ceremony, then turned to where he suspected Kovu to be.

"Your Royal Highness?"

Kovu smiled and nodded (although Rafiki couldn't see that, of course). After helping up the mother, he directed Rafiki where to go. The mother followed.

* * *

Kiruhu, who had never seen anything like this before, continued to watch anxiously as Kovu and Rafiki moved further up the Rock, towards the end of what looked like an enormous balcony. Suddenly, the cheetah felt the lioness next to him softly tapping his paw. He turned to her.

"This your first time, Cheetah?" Vitani whispered when Kiruhu looked at her, "Yeah? Mine too..."

Nala, the sandy lioness that had followed Kiruhu onto the promontory, was awfully annoyed hearing Vitani speaking to Kiruhu the way she did, disregarding all protocol. But she decided not to interfere; no point in making a scene, not now anyway. Maybe later, once the spectacle was over. Much to Nala's horror, Vitani just kept on talking, although it was just one line.

"And I bet it's their first-timer as well," she smiled at the cheetah as she discretely pointed north. Kiruhu tried finding out what she was pointing at , without missing too much of the ongoing event. Then, he suddenly noticed: a small hill to the north, just at the outer edge of the gathered animals, with some trees on top of it. He could detect a handful of brownish-yellow figures standing at the trees' base, keeping some distance from the great masses of animals ahead. High visit from up north; a delegation from the Clanlands. So the hyenas too had come to see the presentation of the new heir to Priderock; that was indeed the first time in decades. With a contemplating smile, Kiruhu turned back to the events unfolding on the Rock, as the presentation now neared it's climax.  
He was just in time to see Rafiki near the outer end of the Rock, still holding the cub. The proud parents followed at arm's-length. Then, in a slow but fluent motion, he held up the newborn lion. The silence that followed was deafening. Thousands and thousands of eyes just stared up at the petrified little golden ball of fur in the ape's hands.  
Suddenly, Kovu stepped up into the spotlight.

"Hail... to the King!" he roared, pointing up at the cub with his right paw.  
And the crowd responded, each animal to his own ability: howling, roaring, stamping, shouting... Their cries of loyalty could be heard echoing all over the Pridelands, and beyond.  
Amidst the roaring, the clouds suddenly broke up, and a broad beam of light hit the outer edge of the Rock, right where Rafiki was standing. The crowd fell silent instantly. Then it happened. One before the other, all animals started to bow down. From where Kiruhu sat, it looked almost as if a giant wave swept over the animals. He noticed the lionesses around him beginning to bow down as well, so naturally, he followed their example. He still managed to get a glimpse of what was happening at the outer edge of the rock, though.  
The mother of the new king had by now bowed down as well. It only left Rafiki and Kovu standing.  
Kiruhu could only imagine what the look on Kovu's face was right now, only being able to see the tanned lion's backside. But as he stood there, gazing over the groveling crowd, the cheetah figured it 'd probably be a wide grin, even though it wasn't Kovu the crowd was bowing down for.

* * *

For a moment there, he literally felt as if he were King of the World; how else to describe the overwhelming feeling you get when being able to admire the submission of a crowd numbering in the thousands? He knew they weren't bowing for him, though, but still... if they had to bow for anyone but him, it had best be his own son.  
Kovu scanned the crowd again. Zebra, antelope, wildebeest... countless animals, countless species. Suddenly, to the north, he imagines seeing a handful of figures independent from the main crowd, under a couple of trees, yellowish of fur with irregular dark spots.

_Hyenas attending the ceremony? That was unexpected..._

From what Kovu could see, they were all bowed down as well, save for the largest one of their group, who seemed to hesitate. But in the end, she too bowed down, be it only briefly. Kovu felt his grin widening even further. The new King had truly ushered in a new era.


	2. Doves and Hawks, hornbills and vultures

**[Author's notes at the bottom of the document, can be read before reading the text, but I put them at the bottom so as not to make them seem obligatory.**

**Doves and Hawks, hornbills and vultures**

Kovu slowly stretched his numb body as he slacked down. Sitting through most of the ceremony had been surprisingly tiring. He stopped to look back at the dispersing crowd, seeing thousands and thousands of prey casually shuffling off.  
It sure would have made a spectacular hunt though; he could already envision tens of lionesses throwing themselves at the enormous herd of animals, forcing the beasts to trample each other in utter panic and despair as they would try to fruitlessly escape the huntresses. Yes, that sure would have made a good show.  
But it would forever remain a show only in Kovu's imagination, however, for the predators were bound by a sacred oath. It was forbidden to hunt, or kill in any other way, on the day of the Presentation of a new heir to Priderock. Kovu smiled faintly as he considered how that took all the fun out of what was supposed to be a joyous day. Well, not all the fun...  
They were still allowed to eat, though; as the restriction only mentioned hunting, not consuming that which was normally hunted. And on a memorable day like this one, eating had little to do with the body's need of food, and everything with feasting, gluttony and other fun, hedonistic pastimes. You could of course wonder where, if not from a forbidden hunt, the food needed for any excessive banquet would have to come from. The answer is quite simple really, although not at all appetizing if you prefer your meat still warm.  
You see, if one amasses thousands of instinctively driven herbivores on a precariously small space, they tend to become a bit stressed. And an animal lacking in intellectual capacities that gets stressed too much has a tendency to... well, drop dead on the spot. Literally. And then there are still all the unfortunate grazers that simply get squashed between their colleagues, or in any other way trampled. In short, after the Presentation-ceremony, most of the Pridelands surrounding Priderock looked not at all like a place of celebration, but more like a killing field – to the herbivores that was. For the lions, however, it was a three-day all-you-can-eat banquet.  
Already starting to enjoy the thought of munching down pound after pound of succulent meat, Kovu started regretting all the formalities and obligations he still had to attend to in the aftermath of the ceremony. But what has to be done, has to be done, and procrastination never helped anyone. First to deal with the not-so-unexpected visitors. The first lioness he addresses as he descended the Rock would have to take care of them.

"Hey, sis," he discretely signaled Vitani.

"My Royal Highness?" she asked ostentatiously polite, bending through her knees. Her eye, however, as well as her hardly suppressed chuckle, was quick to give her away.

"Ha-ha-ha..." Kovu sighed with a frown, "How do you reply to such feeble attempts at humor again? Wait – I know; 'Everyone's a comedian', no?"

Vitani just kept on chuckling.

"That wasn't very regal of you, Highness."

"I couldn't care less. Now, get your act together and try making yourself useful," Kovu grumbled. Somehow, although this day was supposed to be one of the highlights of his lifetime, he didn't exactly feel enthusiast, nor in the mood for humor. Chances were it was another one of his premonitions; they tended to bring him down quite a lot. Worse yet, they tended to come true every now and then too.

"All right, I'm listening. What's up?" Vitani replied, still grinning. Kovu looked around, and saw that most others had already made it down from the rock. For the better, Kovu considered.

"Right, now that I have your attention – I presume you too noticed our... extraordinary visitors, waiting on a hill north of here..."

Vitani nodded.

"Well, how to put this... lets just say they didn't come at all uninvited..."

"What, you mean you..." the lioness replied. It was quite a surprise to hear Kovu invited _them_, but then again, it wasn't – Kovu's ambitions ranked above just sitting atop Priderock and getting fat as his son prepared to become the next official King. No, Kovu didn't plan on just being an idle caretaker during his regency; he wouldn't be remembered as just another righteous and flavorless ruler in a line of many. If it were up to him, he'd be remembered a visionary, an urge he had inherited from the 'wrong' side of the family.

"Yeah, I kinda asked them to come over. I figured now would be a good time to discuss some pressing issues, while everybody is still a bit numb because of the celebrations," Kovu acknowledged, "And since you're about the only one who knows the hyena leader except for me, I was hoping you could go and keep them... company until I get things evened out around here."

"I figured you'd say that," Vitani yawned, "So what, you want me to give them a tour around the Pridelands or something until you send for us?"

"You decide, be creative. Just try staying out of sight, if you catch my drift..." the dark lion shrugged uninterested.

"Yeah, sure, piece of cake. Easier than what you're up against now anyway."

"Don't remind me..." Kovu frowned. The one thing more awkward than inviting the enemy for dinner is having to break the news to the relatives just before that dinner.

"Anyway, I'm off, going to do all the stuff a regent is supposed to do on a day like this – whatever that might be. And you better get moving too."

"All right already, I'm going, I'm going. I know when you're tired of me," Vitani mumbled with a whim of irony to it as she started walking away. But she suddenly halted and turned around.

"Hey Kovu!"

"What?" glared the regent with a tired sigh. Why was she still here?

"Congratulations, little brother..."

The dark lion couldn't help but chuckle upon seeing his sisters silly smirk as she uttered 'little brother'. She'd always be there to keep him right in his place, even when all others were at his paws.

"Thanks, sis. Now get at it already!"

* * *

"Phew, that was a genuine bore..."

"As always, your enthusiasm is overwhelming," Vitani sighed, "You do realize this was a once-in a lifetime occasion, I hope."

"For the better; that means we've already had our share for this decade – unless of course that little runt takes a wrong step when atop the Rock and we need a new king..."

Vitani found herself glaring at her friend with a deep and profound frown. As always, Enyi just glared back with empty, hollow eyes and a face so indifferent it'd make a leopard seem cheery. Sure, Enyi had found out how black humor worked, but smiling was still above her league.

"I'd say 'be serious for a moment', but judging from the look on your face..." Vitani grumbled, "Now... what was I going to say... Oh yeah! You noticed the spotted visitors up north?"

"Not really. I fantasized about hunting down every last one of those grazers down below for most of the ceremony – that and your brother. He can hunt me down anytime..."

"And thank you for that utterly useless, not to mention gross, information," the one-eyed lioness replied with a scowl, "Since you obviously weren't paying attention, I'll fill you in: Kovu secretly invited a delegation from the hyena clan. Worse yet, he expects me to be the welcoming party..."

"Right, like you don't know your way 'round with..." Enyi smirkingly replied when she suddenly halted, realizing her mistake, "Ah, dang it, sorry, I didn't mean to..."

"Yeah," Vitani whispered back, looking at her paws, "Obviously..."

Vitani's eye wasn't the only part of her that had gotten hurt all those months ago, and most former Outlanders had quickly learned to talk around those more sensitive issues when with Vitani, especially the hyena-issue. This in great contrast to what remained of the Pridelanders, who still looked on Vitani with scorn and disgust. Luckily, they seldom or never spoke nor voiced their opinions, as Vitani had most of the Outlanders, not to mention Kovu, behind her. But it couldn't be avoided that, every now and then, a little mistake happened, as Enyi had just demonstrated.

"Eh... right... maybe eh... you ought to... just tell me what to do..." Enyi replied a bit embarrassed. Luckily for her, Vitani got a hold of herself again pretty quickly.

"Oh, yeah... well, I kinda wanted you to keep my brother company. Right now, he's on his way to inform the pride of the 'unexpected' visitors, and I'd hoped you'd be able to make sure our sisters supported him."

"Easy pie," Enyi replied with a forced smile. It made her look older, Vitani considered.

"I don't doubt that. But it ain't our sisters that are going to give him trouble; it's the Pridelanders you'll have to work on. Not exactly easy pie. But I'm sure you'll manage; you've gotten me out of tougher situations than this."

"You can say that again. Anything else?" Enyi asked, with a surprising sincerity, considering the near impossible nature of her first assignment.

"Could you maybe find Anana for me? I could use even more company, if possible, but lionesses that can keep their cool around hyenas are kind of far and few in between."

"I guess that rules Kani out then," Enyi noted excessively sec.

"That's the least you could say," replied Vitani with a fabricated smirk. Each and every time she ran into Kani, they ended up in argument, if you can at least call baring your teeth and insulting each other like there's no tomorrow still arguing. The other Pridelanders at least still had the decency, or arrogance, to keep a stiff upper lip and pretend Vitani just didn't exist, although the wince around their nose usually betrayed them.

"Well, I don't know if it helps, but I think I can dig up another lioness except Anana. You remember Karimu?"

"Sure. Wait, isn't she the one who always hangs out with that fat hornbill lately, Tiko?"

"The same," Enyi nodded, "We had a hunt together last week, and while we were cleaning ourselves up after all the bloodshed, she told me what exactly it is that fat bird is up to. It appears he splits his time between us and the hyenas; he, Kovu and the hyena matriarch seem to be working on something. Whatever it is, it seems to fascinate Karimu."

"Probably one of the reasons we're getting this visit, I bet," Vitani grumbled, "Oh well, that means Kovu at least knows what he's doing, that's a start. And now we just have to hope he doesn't mess up..."

"That's where we come in, right?" Enyi smiled faintly.

"Indeed. It doesn't matter what Kovu, the Pridelanders or the hyenas do, in the end, it'll be up to good old Vitani and Enyi to clean up the mess. Again. And again. And again..."

"We 'd better get to it then. I'll go fetch Anana and Karimu."

"Right, I'll be at the watering hole. Send them there," Vitani concluded as they both got up.

'Enough with the celebrating Vitani's getting back to work...' grumbled the one-eyed lioness to no-one in particular as she started walking away.

* * *

"Well if it isn't my favorite king and queen!"

Kiara carefully put the cub down in the far end of the dim cave, then slowly turned around to face the tanned lion.

"You make it sound so awkward," the lioness said as she tried her best to smile, despite her immense fatigue.

"But technically, I'm right. He's already a king – but you're still my queen," Kovu grinned as he calmly approached Kiara. They briefly nuzzled.

"You're dead-tired, aren't you?"

Kiara just smiled in response, but the exhaustion could be read of her face. It had indeed been a very tiring week for her, and this blessed day was just the final drop. Kovu was well aware of this, and he tried seeing the upside to it: with some luck, his partner would sleep right through the upcoming and highly controversial visit. Better that than risking a fight with her.  
Creeping closer together, Kiara laid her head on Kovu' shoulder, and the regent couldn't help but notice how heavy it felt. As to not to tire her out any more, Kovu lay down and invited his queen to come lay next to him. As was to be expected, she immediately plumped down and nestled herself against Kovu. For a moment, they both stared at their first child. The young cub too was utterly exhausted, and had pretty much fallen asleep the moment Kiara had put him on the rocky pedestal where it now lay all curled up into a small golden ball of fur, partly obscured in the dimness of the cave.

"Have you already thought about a name?" Kiara suddenly whispered.

"Nope. Too much work if we want to do it by the book; we still have to ask Rafiki for advice, and he still has to speak to the stars, listen to the winds, and who-knows-what-else..."

"We better do as he says – we wouldn't want our son to start off under bad signs."

"Not that that would be an utter disaster – I proved it doesn't have to be," Kovu grinned out into the darkness, "The little guy sure looks tired..."

Kiara didn't respond. Kovu looked down, at his mate. Her eyes were closed. Must've fallen asleep as well.  
For a while, Kovu just sat there, listening to Kiara's soft breathing, not really wanting to get up and leave this temporally idyll behind.

"This should have lasted forever," Kovu yawned, "Or at least for a couple of hours..."

He then carefully tried getting up, doing his best to try and move around Kiara, which worked surprisingly well. He quickly cast one last glance at his son, who slept a couple of feet away, then slowly sneaked out. Before exerting his cave, he decided he'd look back just once more. Both Kiara and his son were still fast asleep, a peaceful image he'd try his best to remember, for it might always be the last, or so claimed his resurgent premonition.  
Proceeding outward, he reached the entrance of his Royal cave. The bright light outside felt a bit blinding.

_What to do now?_

Suddenly, Kovu noticed a lean, grayish sandy lioness just outside the cave, obviously a former Outlander, judging by the looks of her.

"Enyi? What are you doing here, shouldn't you be out helping haul all the meat over here? Or were you waiting for me?"

"The second," confirmed the lioness, "Vitani thought you might want some help with whatever it is you are supposed to be doing now; she told me it had something to do with some 'visitors'."

"That's an awfully nice gesture of Vitani, but I can handle things myself, thanks," Kovu smirked, a bit annoyed at his sister's tendency to take that teeny bit too much initiative. But Kovu wasn't too proud too see when an extra set of paws could indeed come in handy either.

"But now that you're here, you might as well make yourself useful."

The dark lion walked ahead, up to the ridge from where he could see onto Priderock's plaza. The lionesses had already dragged two corpses of zebra up there, nice fat ones too. Probably elderly zebra that had died from hearth attacks or somthing. That feast, however,would have to wait.

"All right... Enyi?" asked the lion as he looked onto the forming banquet.

"Highness?"

"'Sir' will do," grumbled Kovu; for some reason,he didn't really like the sound of 'highness', "I want you to go down there and tell every lioness individually to gather in the main cave. Make sure to mention that they ought to stay away from the royal cave, we don't want them to wake up Kiara. What else... Ah, right, make sure you inform the Pridelanders last. And tell four of our most trusted sisters to wait outside of the main cave. I'll need an escort when I come in."

"Done and done. Anything else, sir?"

"Yeah, be sure to alert me when you're done with all that. I'll be in the eh... spare cave."

"Spare cave? What, you mean Taka's former den?" Enyi asked casually. It earned her an amazed stare from Kovu, who thought it was quite peculiar she seemed to be the only one to be able to casually refer to Scar by his actual name.

"Eh... yeah, Taka's cave. Shout if something comes up."

With that, both the regent and the lioness took off, in opposite directions. Kovu immediately headed for Taka's former cave, as he had yet another meeting planned that day, though this one wasn't what you'd call controversial. It was more like a boring obligation. Trying not too attract too much attention, he casually crept over the small rocky trail that lead to the back of Priderock, where Taka's former cave was located. Tiko, who was supposed to be some kind of royal advisor (although 'independent advisor for whomever he pleased' would be a better suiting tittle), was already waiting there for him.

"Your Royal Highness!" called out the hornbill as he noticed Kovu.

"Yeah, good afternoon to you too," Kovu yawned, "Do a lion a favor, drop the 'Royal Highness', will ya?"

The regent suddenly noticed another bird in the cave, a rather huge one too. At first, Kovu only saw the huge bird's mottled brown, nearly black back, close to a meter in length.

"And who's the vulture?"

The enormous bird immediately turned around upon hearing someone mention him. It turned his curled beak towards Kovu and stared at him with his black, beady eyes.

"Ah, howdy, sir! You must be the king 'round 'ere, sir!" cackled the bird as it made a bowing gesture with its wide wings, "Honored to meet you, sir, my name is Mzugu."

"King in all but name," Kovu nodded upon hearing the bird address him as 'the king', "Prince Consort Kovu, Regent of these lands. So, Mzugu, what brings you to my realm; who died?"

"Haha, if I got a meal every time I heard that one, sir," the bird chuckled not at all too convincing, "But as much as it may disappoint you, sir, I didn't come here to eat; no sir! I was, in fact, invited by that good sir over there."

As Kovu had come to expect, the vulture pointed at Tiko, who just sheepishly grinned.

"Is that so? Well than, why don't we let our good friend Tiko explain why exactly it is you are here?" grinned the lion in a way that told 'Come on, Tiko, _enlighten_ me as to why it is you are wasting my time with this oddball.'

"Well, eh... my pleasure, your sir... – I mean, your highness," the hornbill replied hasty, "I invited Mzugu here at the request of _his_ king."

"From that I take it that _his_ king isn't the same one as _your_ king?" the lion quickly added, "Come on Tiko, cut to the chase, while we're still young."

"As you wish, highness. Mzugu is an envoy from the Southern kingdom..."

"What, he's from the swamps? Why would that swamp-cat of king..."

"Ahem!" coughed Mzugu upon hearing Kovu refer to his lord as 'that swamp-cat'.

"I mean, why would the King of the South want to send us an envoy, on the day of the presentation-ceremony, to meet me only when the ceremony itself is already over?"

"Well, he didn't exactly come for the ceremony..."

"Why then is he here? The banquet?" interrupted Kovu

"If you would let me finish – highness," replied the hornbill a bit annoyed, "As I was saying, he didn't come for the ceremony; he came for the meeting we – that is, your highness and me myself – arranged later this day..."

"Are you serious?" frowned the tanned lion, "You're telling me a vulture came all the way here,from deep down south, so he could get to see some hyenas? Doesn't he get enough of those while eating?"

The vulture himself didn't seem at all too happy with the scornful remarks of Kovu, but remained surprisingly silent. Tiko, on the other hand, found himself clarifying his responses once again.

"No, wait, lets start over... It has now been several months since the end of the second hyena-war, right, and as we both know, we have been, through me as a mediator, trying to bring the pride and the hyena clan closer together ever since," Tiko started elaborating, deliberately slow and loud, as if he were addressing an oblivious cub, "Now, when I told you I frequently met with some colleagues of mine, all educated in the field of the law, to discus the technical issues, adapting the royal laws and such, I usually referred to Mzugu here. Now, as one could expect, he kept his king informed about what it was he was doing when debating with me. And for some reason, his king, the King of the South, took particular interest in the reconciliatory efforts between us and the hyena clan."

"And so the King of the South would like to have his bird around when we make the proposed agreements with the hyena clan official, right, I get the picture," Kovu nodded, getting a bit tired of Tiko's elaborate explanations, "Say, Mzugu, what business has your king with how we deal with hyenas in our own realm?"

"Well, sir, lets just say the borders in the swamps aren't what they used to be, and the same goes for our king's health. Therefore, sir, my king is a bit wary of hostility, regardless of the aggressors race; if the times are bad, both hyenas and lions can descend upon an empire like _vultures_, if you pardon the pun, sir. The attempts you are making at establishing somehow what normalized relations with your previously hated enemies might be a good model to combat my lord's worries in the matter of outside aggression, or that's at least what my king thought."

"He did, huh?" Kovu smirked, letting a certain disdain shine through his otherwise neutral voice, "Well, I hope your king realizes it took us decades – who knows, maybe even longer – of merciless carnage and pointless bloodshed only to define mutually recognized borders between our pride and the hyena clan. He shouldn't get his hopes up too much, we don't work miracles over here, just careful diplomacy."

"Still, anything you pick up concerning the technical issues might prove useful, violence and bloodshed aside," Tiko chuckled cynically, invoking a grin on Kovu's face; he definitely preferred Tiko over the late Zazu. Mzugu didn't seem to find the remark at all funny, though.

"Anyway, I suppose I don't mind you watching the upcoming meeting, just don't..." Kovu tried saying to the vulture in conclusion of their short talk, when he was suddenly interrupted by the appearance of a lioness in the cave.

"Kovu!"

"What, no 'highness' this time?" grumbled Kovu sarcastically before he even got to see who it actually was he was addressing. If only he had payed a bit more attention, he would have recognized Nala's voice, whose emerald eyes now peered directly into Kovu's.

"Ah, my queen! So, what brings you here, uninvited, interrupting my meeting?" sneered Kovu as he noticed who exactly had just appeared. He soon regretted his remark, though, as it came out sounding quite aggressive, almost like a reproach. The last thing he needed was another argument with Nala, considering how it had taken him months to get her just to talk to him again after the tragedy of the Golden River. Luckily, Nala's indignation prevented her from immediately responding, which in turn gave Kovu the opportunity to apologize. Whether that would be of any help, though, was another question.

"Oh – damn it, sorry. I didn't mean it like that. In fact, I didn't mean it at all. Sorry. All this mess surrounding the ceremony is just getting a bit too much..." sighed the tanned lion as he tried approaching Nala as amicably as he could manage.  
The sandy lioness, on the other hand, was trying to decide whether she should either just ignore what had happened or walk out of the cave without saying a word, outraged. She chose to do neither, as she suddenly noticed the vulture Mzugu.

"Who's the vulture?" she just asked in neutral voice.

"Howdy, ma'am. The name's Mzugu," replied the huge bird of prey, retaining an awkwardly casual tone, not to mention his outrageous accent.

"Eh... yeah... _howdy_ to you too..." Nala hesitatingly mumbled, as if she had forgotten what it was she had come search Kovu for in the first place. She seemed to need a minute to grasp her thoughts again. As Kovu found this rather amusing,he just waited, careful not to smile too obviously. Then in a flash, Nala seemed to have remembered.

"Kovu!"

"Yes?" replied the lion, ostentatiously slow.

"I'm afraid we've got other scavenger-problems, aside from the vulture over there."

"No way..."

"Yeah, I'm afraid so," nodded the elderly queen, not aware of Kovu's sarcasm, "Kani went to take a look at the assembled herds from the Rock right after you left there, she figured it'd be the only time she would be able to see something amazing like this morning's gathering ever. But she was able to make out something other than just the regular guests for the ceremony, just a glimpse."

The queen paused a moment, as for dramatic effect. Kovu, however, just remained stoic.

"So...?" he eventually asked.

"Kovu! There were hyenas on a hill up north!"

"Ah, hyenas! Some news indeed. Say, Kani didn't happen to try and chase them off on her own, did she?"

"Of course not! She came straight to me, and I spent the rest of the time looking for you!"

"Right, nice," Kovu sighed, a bit relieved; you couldn't ever be sure with Kani around, "I'll deal with this immediately. Meanwhile, you go to the main cave, we'll gather the lionesses there."

"Okay, we could do that..." Nala frowned, obviously a bit suspicious. This wasn't exactly the response she'd been expecting. And her trust for Kovu wasn't that impressive to begin with. But before she could ask more, yet another lioness entered the cave, this time Enyi. Everyone turned around and stared at her as she came in. Enyi, in turn, looked at Nala with a certain surprise on her otherwise infamously inert face.

"Eh... Kovu, sir, we eh... I mean, I gathered everyone in the main cave. Except for Queen Nala. Who appears to be... right here," stuttered the sandy lioness.

"What do you mean everybody is already in the main cave?" questioned Nala, "Kovu, did you already..."

"That's not important right now. What is important, is my request to you to head over to the main cave yourself, and wait for me to do the explanation to the whole pride _there_, all right?"

Nala had wanted to keep hearing Kovu out, as was her good right, being the Queen-mother, but her gut-feeling already answered most of her questions. None of the answerers turned out to be satisfactory. Thus, with an overall bad feeling, she just followed Enyi to the main cave, casting a last suspicious glare over her shoulder, right at Kovu. The dark lion, however, had already turned his attention to someone else, notably Tiko.

"I get the feeling this'll get tougher as I delay more, so we better speed things up. Go get Vitani, she'll probably be 'round our 'guests' by now. I'll be in the main cave, preparing the pride for the upcoming meeting. I don't expect this to go smoothly, so alert me when you return with the hyenas, got it?"

The hornbill nodded and took off; no need for further delay. Now, only Mzugu remained in the cave.

"All right, vulture, as for you, you just follow me. That isn't so you could have front-row seats, but for your own safety: no one knows you around here, and they might just mistake you for a snack."

"Sir, yes sir," agreed the bird, as he began wobbling behind Kovu as the lion made it's way to the main cave. As he had requested, four lionesses sat posted at the entrance. The regent immediately recognized them as true supporters to his cause, which couldn't quite be said of all his subjects.

"Greetings, sisters. If you would lead the way, please?"

Kovu thus slowly entered the main cave. The cave itself had three levels, in the form of three more or less concentric circles, all of which now hosted scores of lionesses. Although quite full already, the cave could easily host even more lionesses, probably up to forty, give or take. Because of the cave's specific makeup, Kovu found himself stared at by tens of eyes from all directions as he entered, at the bottom level. Everyone fell silent when they noticed the regent entering.

"Afternoon, ladies..." he mumbled under his breath. Kovu briefly looked around to locate Nala. He quickly noticed she'd taken position on the second level of the cave, just opposed to the entrance where Kovu himself sat. Next to the queen sat another lioness, sleek, beautiful and with a lush golden fur. So, it seemed Nala had teamed up with Kani; that wouldn't exactly make it easier on him, considered Kovu.  
Seeing as no-one stepped forward to pose a question, Kovu reasoned they expected him to do the talking. At first, anyway.

"Great, I see everyone is here," he spoke up, now with a loud and relatively confident voice, "I presume most of you are wondering why I called you here, drawing you away from the imminent feast. Alas, I am afraid the banquet will have to wait just a little bit longer; there is still something else we have to take care of on this memorable day..."

Nala and Kani' stares by now almost burned a hole in Kovu's forehead, or so it at least felt to Kovu.

"As some of you might or might not have noticed, there were some 'unexpected' visitors for the presentation this morning..."

At this pint, almost all lionesses just blankly stared at Kovu, as they had no idea what he was talking about. All lionesses except for Nala and Kani, that is; they already got where he was going at, and didn't like it one bit.

"Now, for those of you who don't have a clue as to what I am talking about, there were a handful of hyenas watching the ceremony this morning..." Kovu continued, leaving a pause for the obligatory gasping and mumbling as he uttered 'hyenas', "... and from all those surprised reactions, I take it most of you hadn't noticed. But now you all know they did in fact attend the ceremony..."

Kovu hesitated. Now came the hard part. For a moment there, Kovu considered beating about the bush some more, but that would be postponing the inevitable. His best option really was to just bite the bullet.

"Now, what I am about to say may come as quite a shock to some of you, and I do not blame you; you have earned your right to be shocked and appalled, you have paid for that right in blood. If you, at any time, want to voice those opinions, you are free to do so..."

Mzugu, looking at all this from behind Kovu's back,, couldn't help but notice how hollow that statement sounded: there sat Kovu, surrounded by four muscular lionesses who seemed ready to lash out at anyone who as much as looked at Kovu in a way that displeased him; that sure was encouraging for anyone who wanted to voice any opinion.

"Now, what I actually had to say: the hyenas who attended the ceremony had no malign intentions. Quite to the contrary; I... invited them..."

Those last words Kovu almost hissed, reluctant as he was to utter them. And with good reason: where the cave had moments before still been filled with the soft buzzing of lionesses mumbling at each other, she was now filled with an eerie silence, weighing down heavily on everyone inside. Kovu exploited that to quickly finish his explanation before the shouting would kick in.

"Not only that, I also invited the hyena matriarch here, to appear before us on Priderock today."

There, he said it. That was part one of the show. And now for act two. Kovu slowly lift his head up, looking at the two lionesses whose stare he had avoided all that time.  
Kani seemed to be the most upset, having her claws out, gritting the stone floor. From the cold stare in her eyes, as well as the tension building up in her body, Kovu could tell she was ready to pounce at him, and beat him to within an inch of his life – possibly even further. Since the cave was filled with lionesses, however, most of whom would disapprove strongly of an assault on their regent, she just kept sitting there, angrily staring at Kovu, cursing at him between her bared teeth.

"You filthy, treacherous swine," she viciously hissed, "After me and my sisters gave up our blood, our lives and our king to keep Priderock safe from those mongrels, you invite them? Stinking Outlandish rat!"

At this, almost all Outlanders growled in unison, but Kani didn't as much as flinch, being both too proud and too tough to do so. Before the situation got further out of hand, Nala intervened, however. In contrast to the outraged Kani, Nala was on the verge of bursting out in tears.

"Kovu, why?" she asked barely audible, "Why do you do this to us?"

"Because I have to," Kovu stoically replied, "Because this is my duty as a leader of the pride."

"What did you say?" Nala gasped, her eyes still gleaming of sorrow.

"I said I am doing my duty as a ruler."

"Your duty as a ruler," repeated Nala scornfully, "Many great lions have ruled their realm from this cave, Kovu, and now you befoul their names and heritage by counting yourself among them? By inviting hyenas? What on earth gives you the right to think..."

"Because I am your King!" snapped Kovu, "I do what I have to do for the benefit our pride and our lands."

"You are no king," spat Kani, "You're a regent, a pathetic caretaker of a throne once occupied by greater Kings from a far more noble bloodline."

"Ha, greater Kings!" smirked Kovu in contempt, "Those 'greater Kings' merely created the mess I am trying to sort out now. I always thought we had well established that fact already."

"Don't you dare..." Nala threatened, making it very clear that any mention of her late husband's name would make her resort to more forceful, less talkative arguments.

"If you insist, my queen," replied the regent with played politeness, "I'll leave the kings be, for the time being. If you two, on the other hand, stubbornly go on digging up the past, that's your choice. I myself, however, am prepared to move ahead, along with anyone ready to follow me, towards the future..."

A slow, shrill yet hollow laughter suddenly arose from the third-level of the cave, near the dim far-end. Looking up, Kovu could see a figure laboriously getting up and moving out of the shade, slowly and carefully jumping towards the second-level, next to Nala and Kani. Light from outside the cave now shone upon the lioness' dull, sandy fur.

"Would you mind letting all of us in on the fun, Sarafina?"

Sarafina, Nala's mother. The oldest lioness in the pride, and the only one to have been adult at the time of Scar's takeover. By now, old age had broken her voice and was steadily consuming her body, slowly covering her previously green eyes with a grayish gleam. The same went for her mind, as it was not uncommon for her to forget even her daughters name every now and then. But now, she was obviously experiencing a rare moment of lucidity.

"Kovu, Kovu, Kovu..." she slowly uttered, "I can see your mouth moving and I'm sure I can hear your voice bark. But for all that, it's not you who's talking..."

She paused for an instant. No-one really know whether it was so she could catch her breath, or if it was just for dramatic effect. She started laughing again.

"Moving ahead, towards the future? Ha! Ahead, towards a 'glorious future', along with your hyena friends? Maybe it's just my age, but... that sounds damn familiar. Like father, like son, I guess..."

"And I suppose that is supposed to shut me up then?" Kovu sighed, "How on earth would you like me to reply to that? An apology for being born perhaps, for not having been able to pick the right father? Well, you ain't getting' it. Maybe it seems to you I'm following in Scar's paw-prints... well I don't give a damn. I do know one thing though, I won't make the mistakes he made. But I won't make the mistakes Simba or Mufasa made either..."

"I don't have to listen to this!" Nala suddenly growled, her eyes bty now swollen and read of the tears she tried fighting back. All this talk about Simba and hyenas apparently brought back some really bad memories. The lioness sprung down towards the cave-floor, upon which Kovu now stood upright. Expecting Nala was about to jump their regent, two former Outlanders quickly hopped in front of Kovu, ready to defend him. But Nala had no intention of picking a fight; she just disdainfully stared at Kovu and the lionesses in front of him, and shoved one aside as soon as they had realized she just wanted to get out.

"Out of my way!" she hissed as she pushed another growling Outlander aside, "I'll be in Scar's cave... for old time's sake. Yell when your scruffy scavenging friends are gone, _regent_."

Once Outside, Nala was quick to notice another lioness that was making her way towards the cave. She immediately recognized the half-blind Vitani. The queen-mother reasoned she had probably brought the hyenas; that was a job which fitted Vitani fine.

"And I suppose you brought the spotted cavalry?" grunted Nala as she trotted off, "Simba, my love, what a disgrace is this..."

Vitani was bright enough to recognize a bad sign when she saw one. She turned around, towards the plaza upon which now sat both her two companions and three hyenas.

"Did I already mention you shouldn't exactly expect a warm welcome?"

With that, she continued onward towards the cave, to alert Kovu of her return. Truth be told, she herself didn't expect a warm welcome either. As she entered, she was greeted by shouting; now that Nala had left, Kani and Kovu were enthusiastically flinging insults at each other, with Kani receiving some support from the remnants of the once numerous Pridelaners, and Kovu getting some, though little, backing from the unnervingly quiet Outlanders. "We aren't 'one' quite just yet," Vitani sighed to herself.

"Ahem...," Vitani introduced herself as she entered, "Ladies, Kovu – they're here."

"Hurrah..." Kovu mumbled, "Okay, send 'em in. I could be shouting my lungs out 'till nightfall without accomplishing anything like this..."

"Oh, this is grand, you're letting 'em in? You're actually letting them into our cave?" Kani yelped.

"I think I'm going now..." Vitani whispered, quickly disappearing again, off to get the hyenas. Meanwhile, Kani continued her verbal barrage.

"As if it wasn't enough you let those dirt-bags onto our sacred Priderock, you actually expect them to come in our main cave, the same cave in which they killed my friend Kausha and wounded me? How considerate!"

"Please, Kani, drop it already, this is getting old..." Kovu yawned, intentionally cold, after which he addressed the lionesses who sat on the ground level.

"Now, everyone but me onto the ridges, come on, clear some room here..."

"Like hell am I moving for those mongrels," Kani spat, as she jumped onto the ground, "I'm out off here. Anyone care to join me?"

As Kovu had expected, most former Pridelanders almost immediately followed Kani and jumped onto the ground as well. To Kovu's surprise however, three Pridelanders remained seated. Of two he knew they didn't support Kani's radical views and were, despite everything, still somehow what loyal to their regent. The third Pridelander, however, was none other than Sarafina. She quickly removed his doubts, however.

"Kani, sweetie, I would have followed you out if it weren't for my tired old paws. But I suppose I'll be condemned to lying here and watching the whole damn travesty..."

As she and her followers tried walking out, Kani suddenly bumped into Vitani, distracted as she was by Sarafina's comments. She turned around to growl at Vitani when she suddenly noticed the three figures behind her.  
So there they were, the dreaded hyenas. The lioness unsheathed her claws and bared her fangs, then slowly started stalking past the enemy. First past the hyena with the long, thick manes, then past the one with the deformed face. When she was about to pass the last of the predators, though, Kani suddenly froze. She recognized the last one, the one with the grayish manes. She had been the one to...

"Y-you..." she hissed under her breath., backing up a little. Unlike her two companions, the gray-maned hyena wasn't at all intimidated by the lionesses all around her, and thus had no trouble replying.

"Do we know each other?"

Kani seemed to flinch for a second, but than rushed forward out of the cave with an angry growl. Her few fellow Pridelanders to support her followed her example. The hyena, on the other hand just shrugged and continued to follow Vitani into the cave – not that she didn't know her way around there, though.

In contrast to the guests she accompanied, Vitani wasn't at all upset about the lionesses leaving the cave. To the contrary: she realized the temporary departure of the Pridelanders would save her a lot of being boo-ed at, something she didn't really appreciate.

Just before the newly arrived group appeared in the cave, the hornbill Tiko, who had been sitting on the first hyena's shoulder all the way there, suddenly hopped off and flapped towards Kovu, who sat in the center of the cave.

"I guess I should do this – highness," grinned the bird as he landed next to the tanned lion. Kovu just shrugged.

_Lets just hope he don't make it sound too much like a game-show._

"Miladies, your highness, allow me to present to you: her Majesty Shenya, Matriarch of the Graveyard-clan, ruler of the Clanlands!"

Then, with a sweeping bow, Tiko groveled a bit backwards as to allow the first hyena to step up towards where Kovu was sitting. And she did, hesitatingly, not lifting a paw before the previous one had been put back on the cave floor. When she was about three feet away from Kovu, she stopped to look around, her gentle gray eyes flashing from one end of the cave to the other. You could tell she was all but at ease, sitting in the middle of a cave filled with almost twenty full-grown lions and lionesses. And the deafening silence certainly added to that.  
Tiko had to suppress a giggle when he thought of how hilarious it would be if he would step up and whisper 'Awkward!'... they should have invested some more time in protocol.

"So eh... yeah, that's me. The Matriarch 'n all..." stuttered the hyena in her characteristic, high-pitched yet coarse voice, "Hi..."

"Greetings, Matriarch," Kovu suddenly boomed back in response, "I, prince Kovu, regent of the Pridelands, welcome you to my home."

"That's your cue..." whispered Tiko when he noticed the hyenas didn't respond.

"Oh, right," on of them hissed, after which all three of them briefly bowed down.

"It is an honor to be here, your highness," proclaimed the Matriarch while still bowing down her head.

"I bet it is..." grumbled Sarafina under her breath, earning her the angry stares of Vitani and Enyi. Kovu, however, didn't even bother to look back, as he still had his gaze fixed upon the groveling hyenas.

"Please, Shenya, you need not bow before me; I have invited you here today as an equal – and a friend," replied Kovu with the necessary theater, putting on his most regal face as he strode closer towards the hyena Matriarch. Someone had obviously been rehearsing better than the hyenas.

As Kovu approached her, Shenya got up with the most sincere smile she could muster in the given circumstances. Kovu could read from her face she was happy she had gotten that over with.

"All right, now that we've gotten the formalities over with, why don't you introduce us to your retinue, Shenya?" Kovu suddenly suggested in the most casual manner. It had to be said: with regards to the protocol and formalities, Kovu was an even bigger slacker than Simba, although that arguably had a lot to do with the passing of the strict Zazu as advisor to the royal court, and his replacement by his easy-going nephew Tiko.

"Sure, if you insist," shrugged Shenya, recognizing more of the Kovu she had met before, "One-eyes here is Banzaï..."

"Hey!" protested the one-eyed hyena with the scarred face, "It's called visually impaired!"

That of course earned him a chuckle from the just as 'visually impaired' Vitani.

"And that one's Shetani, ruler of the Northlands, and my lieutenant."

"A pleasure to make your acquaintance," Kovu nodded, "I could introduce everyone in this cave, but that would take me a bit too far, I'm afraid. And since you have already met my sister Vitani, that's about it for my right-paw lioness. Now, onto business, shall we? I believed you had prepared a little speech for this..."

"Right," Shenya nodded, "I suppose all you lions know what I'm here for; Kovu must've told you by now..."

All lioness simultaneously shook their heads.

"Well, to be frank, I didn't quite get there yet..." Kovu admitted.

"Oh, great, let the hyena do all the work," Shenya sighed, "All right... eh... I came here today, on Kovu's invitation, to officially redefine the relations between the Pride and the Clan.  
As you probably all know, those relations are not good, to say the least. Quite to the contrary, for as long as any of us can remember, relations were defined by two words: hate and warfare... and over time, little has changed, as your friends who just left this cave illustrated. But we know all to well where this behavior has led us. It led to clash after clash, each one more violent than the other, culminating in the tragedies that took place here, at Priderock, and at the Golden River, the current border between our lands. A border drawn in blood..."

Sarafina yawned ostentatiously, earning her a genuine evil-eye glare from Vitani; these matters were not to be mocked.

"I came here today with one message: it has to end. This feud has already dragged on too long; too many cubs and pups have been raised to hate each other without even realizing why. Besides, do we even realize why? What could possibly justify this endless carnage to span generations? Nothing. Absolutely nothing. It took me a while to see that; in fact, only months ago, it was me who led the charge against your pride, assembled here at Priderock, blinded by my own hate and sorrow. But I've learned my lesson, at tremendous costs. The father of my yet unborn children died because I wanted to fight lions, my mother died while fighting lions, my father had his whole life consumed because of his hatred for lions. And my brother... he died trying to end it all, trying to stop what evil I had unleashed. I owe it to him to try and finish what he started. We have to end this pointless rivalry between our races, or our hatred will end us in stead, as our latest war brutally illustrated."

Shenya paused. It was obvious she had a hard time continuing, as mentioning her late family always made her rather emotional. Kovu cautiously looked around the cave. Everyone was locked in silence. One of the few Pridelanders to have stayed behind in the cave could be seen averting her eyes in tears; she had lost her older sister in the war, which made the hyena's words all the more relevant to her. Most Outlanders, however, just stared inertly, as their part in the war had been marginal, and so had their losses; they didn't exactly feel the hardships others had suffered. Except maybe for one Outlander: Vitani. She could feel Shenya's pain; they mourned the same casualties. Kovu felt relieved to see Enyi trying to comfort the silently wailing Vitani.

"Beautifully said, Shenya. Sad but true words," Kovu calmly spoke, first towards the hyena, then towards the crowd, "From your reactions I take it me and the Matriarch do not stand alone with our concerns. Good; I am prepared to do everything it takes to make sure my children will not have to live through what most of us have suffered. The same goes for Shenya. But we cannot achieve this alone, and we cannot achieve this through mere words. We will have to make this work, together. And I, in my position of regent, assuming the powers of the King, will herein take the first step. Tiko?"

"All right, pride, listen up," the plump hornbill yelped, "What his highness meant, was that he is going to officially end the war with the Clan by ceremonially making peace. After that, he'll alter some of the Royal Laws, so you better listen carefully."

As Tiko had, on previous occasions, explained to Kovu and Shenya, the deceleration of peace would involve a little ceremony. Both the lion and the hyena prepared themselves by stepping closer together and facing each other.

"All right, a little more to the left – there you go. Now, both bend over a bit, come on, bend over. 'till your foreheads touch. Nice," Tiko instructed the two predators.

"Awkward?" Shenya whispered as she stood with her head touching than of Kovu, feeling his thick manes caress her ears.

"Extremely awkward," Kovu grinned.

"Okay, lovebirds," Tiko chuckled, much to Banzaï amusement, "I hope you remembered the lines?"

"Yeah, yeah," Kovu muttered, "All right, here goes... ahem... _With the Kings of the Past as my witnesses, let it henceforth be known: peace at home, peace with the Graveyard-clan, for as long as the Circle of Life may endure..._"

"_With the Queens of the Past as my witnesses, let it henceforth be known: peace at home, peace with Priderock, for as long as the Circle of Life may endure..."_

"And amen! Nice!" Tiko grinned with satisfaction.

"Really romantic too," commented Banzaï with a hardly suppressed chuckle,," I was kinda expecting the bird would conclude with 'You may now kiss the bride'..."

"Haha, real hilarious, one-eyes," Shenya grumbled.

"Oh, but he wasn't joking, your majesty," Tiko suddenly commented in an unusually serious manner, "Protocol states you have to seal the deal with a firm embrace, and a kiss on either cheek..."

"I'll seal your deal..." snapped Kvou, as he mockingly lashed out at Tiko, who hopped away.

"But your highness! I'm serious!"

"Go fool the other one, Tiko..."

"Highness, why would I lie about this?

"Are you really serious?"

"Highness, I swear on my mother's grave!"

"Your mother is not dead yet..."

"You're not fooling anyone, you know," intervened Shenya.

"But for the Kings' sake, I'm dead serious! You have to kiss!" shouted Tiko in frustration.

"You sure you ain't lying?"

"Absolutely!"

All... right..." replied Kovu, turning back to Shenya, "You eh... prepared to make another offer on the altar of peace?"

"It's not like it 'll kill us, I suppose," shrugged the hyena reluctantly. She moved her head toward Kovu's when suddenly...

"All right, folks, ye can break it up already, protocol don't say anything 'bout kissing..." giggled Mzugu the vulture, who had lain low throughout most of the meeting, "I know something 'bout protocol, and this sure ain't no part of it. He's just pulling both yer paws..."

"What?" shouted Kovu and Shenya in indignation, "You mean..."

All their doubts were removed when Tiko started snickering out loud.

"Well isn't that considerate of you, ruining this solemn occasion with your clearly misguided ideas about humor," Kovu hissed, somewhere between anger and amusement, "You're lucky I still need you to proclaim my new laws, or I'd beat you to a feathery pulp instantly..."

"... but now I guess he'll have to wait 'till after your proclaiming 's done," noted Shenya.  
Meanwhile, Tiko was regaining some of his breath, though he still chuckled a bit.

"Aw, come on, comrades, highnesses, majesties! There's no sound to symbolize peace better than the sweet caress of a sincere laugh..."

"If you don't want to engage in a not-so-sweet caress with the wall over there, I'd suggest you get back to what it is we're actually keeping you 'round here for," Kovu grumbled under his voice.

"All right, I'll get to it," huffed Tiko, still exhausted from his laughing spasm. He hopped towards the center of the room.

"Okay, eh... Lets see... As I said, I'll be proclaiming some new laws now. This'll take a while, official stuff and all, I hope it doesn't bore you that much," Tiko preemptively apologized to the gathered lions and hyenas, "But hey, I'll still have to recite this for about a hundred times, 'till every puny critter in the entire Prideland has heard it, so cheer up! You only have to listen once."

**[Skip this, unless you're a Lion-King Legalist**

"Ahem... Hear ye, hear ye! _To all those who are, have been or have yet to be, his Highness Kovu, Regent of the Pridelands, has decided and I declare:_  
**T**hat the Royal decree of his Majesty King Mufasa of the Pridelands, stating that the King of Priderock rules all the lands the sun touches, is as of now void.

**T**hat, by decree of his Highness Kovu, Regent of Priderock, the King of the Pridelands rules all the lands in between the White-Pass-River in the east, the Golden River in the North, the Swamps in the south, and the Great Gorge in the west.

**T**hat, by decree of his Highness Kovu, Regent of Priderock, the King of the Pridelands will at all times respect the sovereign rule of the Graveyard-Clan Matriarch over the lands North of the Golden River.

**T**hat the Royal decree of his Majesty King Ahadi of the Pridelands, stating that all hyenas who trespass onto the Pridelands are to be killed on sight, is as of now void.

**T**hat the Royal decree of his Majesty King Ahadi of the Pridelands, stating that it is never to be considered a crime to kill or harm any hyena, is as of now void.

**T**hat, by decree of his Highness Kovu, Regent of Priderock, while in the Pridelands, any hyena from the Graveyard-Clan shall be treated as a Priderock-lion for what concerns protection against and treatment for bodily harm.

**T**hat, in a mutual and binding agreement, Regent Kovu of Priderock and Matriarch Shenya of the Graveyard-Clan, have decided that in case either realm has depleted it's natural resources, the Pride or Clan of that realm will be allowed to live of the other realm for so long as it does not threaten the original inhabitants of that realm."

**[Done. Some explanations will probably follow, but this was a must-have for realism**

"You're about done?"

"As a matter of fact, I am. Do you all understand – or should I repeat it, slowly and naggingly?" Tiko grinned maliciously.

"No, please, spare us!" Vitani yawned.

"Although I would never dare doubt any of you when it comes to your superior intellects, my dear sisters," Kovu mockingly declared to the assembled lionesses in a similar tone as Tiko had just employed, "Maybe a small explanation would not fall bad. After all, it's hard to abide by the law if you do not know what it holds. The most important thing is this: from now on, killing or harming any of Matriarch Shenya's underlings will be treated as killing or harming one of our own lionesses. The bottom line here is: just don't! As of now, harming hyenas is illegal. The Matriarch has made similar declarations to her clan with regards to lions..."

Smart move, Vitani considered: now a lioness should, in theory, feel just as safe in the Clanlands as she would in the Pridelands, same for the hyenas. That should create a certain bond, a common ground, and a good step towards a more enduring peace.

"As for all that yapping about the new border..." Kovu had wanted to continue, when he was suddenly interrupted by some muffled sound of protest coming from the entrance to the cave. As the regent turned around to see what it was, Anana and Karimu, who had been blocking the entrance, moved aside. A golden lioness slowly walked in, carrying a small golden cub in her by its scruff. As soon as the lioness noticed the hyenas, however, she froze. Her reddish brown eyes flashed from the hyenas to Kovu, who opened his mouth as to say something bu seemed to hesitate.

"Kiara, honey, I..."

But before Kovu could utter any excuse whatsoever, Kiara stareted slowly pacing backwards, out of the cave, speeding up the moment Kovu tried to approach her. As Kiara again left the cave, still carrying her cub, Kovu abandoned the idea of trying to go after her, which left him standing in the middle of the cave. Everyone just stared at him.

"I still hadn't congratulated you on the birth of your son..." Shenya suddenly whispered.

"Yeah," Kovu sighed as he pointlessly stared ahead, "Thanks..."

* * *

"And now she's coming out again. I don't think she liked what she saw, to say the least. Nope, definitely not. She's on the verge of crying."

"That's what he gets for always trying to do things his way," Rafiki noted.

"Come on now, that ain't fair. Kovu is trying his best, and he just does what he thinks is right."

"That's what I'm afraid of... The worst of things are done with the best intentions... he's too much like his father. I should have a talk, and rather sooner than later."

"With Kovu?" Kiruhu asked.

"No, with all of 'em."

"Who's all of 'em?" Kiruhu frowned.

"Hush, I'm trying to think here," Rafiki muttered, thinking. He remained silent for a couple of seconds.

"Yes, I need a long talk with all of 'em. I should have done this a lot sooner..."

"Better late than never," Kiruhu suggested, not having a clue what Rafiki was on about, which seemed to annoy the ape greatly. That would have explained the trashing he gave the cheetah with his staff.

"I said hush..." grumbled Rafiki as he sat down on the floored Kiruhu.

* * *

**Author's notes**

Just for the fun of it, I decided to add some author's notes. Maybe I'll do this more often, maybe I won't.

Let's see here... Well, this chapter sure is a long way from the prologue, isn't it? I have to admit, the contrast is a bit intentional; we move from theatrical mass-scenes to small, dark caves and tense conversations. And no magic either this time; the cynical comments on the banquet right at the beginning make that clear right from the start.

That said, although it isn't bad, this isn't one of my finest chapters either. Mostly going over the characters and the events of TCoL, really. And since this is a prequel, that wasn't really peasantry (so we'll get new characters and new backgrounds!). But hey, it might just encourage some new readers to take a peak at 'Dawn and Dusk in the Circle of Life'. But don't let this passage put you off, it'll get better from here on; once Rafiki starts his talking, I'll deliver another one of those nice atmosphere-chapters again, not unlike the prologue of TCoL, maybe with a bit of fighting thrown in the mix.

Thanks for reading, and if you haven't: enjoy.


	3. Magic Mushrooms

**Magic Mushrooms**

Lounging casually in the shade, stretched out in the soft grass, Kovu apathetically watched hundreds of vultures soaring high above the Pridelands, making their way down every now and then to feed of the numerous carcasses that had remained in the wake of the Presentation-ceremony.  
At least they were happy, thought the regent, remembering the tense atmosphere that had descended over his pride since he had introduced them to the hyenas. Not unlike his pride, Kovu too was a bit distressed, notwithstanding the self-assured face he had managed to keep up during the day. It just wasn't easy ruling a pride when half of it constantly seemed to disapprove of whatever it was he decided.  
Suddenly, a small, brightly colored butterfly landed on Kovu's nose. Normally, he would have found this both pleasant and relaxing. Now, however, he found it somehow-what annoying, for reasons he couldn't quite point out.  
The lion sluggishly lift up his paw to chase the small insect away. Looking at the butterfly as it flew up, his gaze followed it all the way 'till it landed once again, a few yards away, this time on a hyena's nose.  
Shenya, previously walking towards Kovu, halted, not wanting to disturb the little insect. After a few seconds, however, the little animal took to the skies again, leaving Shenya staring at it for a moment.  
Kovu yawningly got up and moved over to the hyena, who was accompanied by Vitani.

"Thanks for giving us some time alone, Kovu," the hyena smiled as she noticed Kovu, "We really needed a moment of remembrance."

"'t Was no trouble, the least I could do was let you come visit your brother," Kovu tried smiling back, as the trio slowly walked away from the 'Royal Tomb', an extensive cave-system where most of the casualties from the recent war, both lion and hyena, had been put to rest, including King Simba and Shenya's brother Vincent, for whom Vitani and Shenya had visited the tomb.

"This place, it's so beautiful," Vitani noted, commenting on the lush environment of the Royal Tomb, "Yet the shroud of death hangs over it, even before we started using it as a tomb..."

"Yeah, I agree; let's get out of here..."

"By the way, Kovu, sorry for all the trouble I gave you," Shenya suddenly said as they walked towards Priderock, "Especially with Kiara..."

"Bah, don't worry, she'll get over it in a day or two," Kovu replied, though he didn't sound like he believed what he said, "She's just a bit sensitive now that our son has been born..."

"I can imagine that; from what I've seen of him, he's a cute kid."

"He sure is... Talking of which, I couldn't help but notice you look... kinda... you know, larger than the last time we met. I presume you too...?" Kovu inquired.

"Yeah," Shenya confirmed, ignoring Kovu's blunt demeanor, "I'm expecting, 't is bound to happen soon. I even doubted whether I could risk coming here, to your celebration; I shouldn't mess around too much with a pups on the way. 't Is a scary enough affair as it is."

"Try not to worry too much... I'll ask the Kings to make sure everything goes fine," Kovu tried reassuring her, although he knew the only thing hyenas feared even more than lions was having to give birth.

"Thanks... but I'm not sure if they'll be too inclined to help a hyena," Shenya grinned.

"It won't hurt to try."

The trio slacked on, towards Priderock, where the rest of the Pride was by now enjoying a huge banquet in honor of the Presentation. Kovu had figured the best time to go visit Shenya's brothers resting place would be during the banquet, so they wouldn't be disturbed.  
The fact than no-one would disturb them also allowed Kovu to discus something with Shenya (and Vitani) away from overly curious ears. To that end, he requested both the hyena Matriarch and his sister to wait a moment before walking up to Priderock.

"Hold on ladies, there's something I'd like to exchange thoughts about before we join the others..."

The party came to a halt.

"Can't we discus it during dinner?" Vitani suggested.

"No, this is something I only want you two to hear, for now..."

"Oh no, not another conspiracy," Vitani sighed, not at all serious, "Don't you remember what happened last time?"

"Haha, very funny. No seriously, it's a problem I've been worrying over for quite some time now..."

"Okay, shoot," Shenya shrugged.

"All right, let me start by asking you a question: what exactly is the territory your clan officially controls nowadays?"

"Well, that'd have to be the Elephant Graveyard, the Outlands, the Northern part of the Pridelands, the Wastelands and my lieutenant Shetani officially still rules the Northlands..."

"Sounds like that's a lot," Vitani commented.

"Yeah, but we don't use most of it; it's mainly barrens. Only the Outlands and our part of the Pridelands are decent sources of food. Except maybe for the Nortlands, but those are too far out..."

My point exactly!" Kovu suddenly pointed out.

"Huh?"

"Shenya, the Clanlands, though only half as fertile, are more than twice the size of the Pridelands. How do you control all those lands?"

"We send out border patrols – but most of us just live at your northern border. The rest of our land is kind of empty..."

"See, that's what I wanted to talk about. We have the same problem here, only different; I'm supposed to rule over all the Pridelands, from the swamps in the south to your land in the north. But I'm currently managing that with a pride of under thirty lions, while this place could, in a pinch, probably hold as much as three times that amount. Our lands are too fertile to rule with the amount of paws we have now, and your lands are too vast."

"For the better, it means we've got some room to expand without having to worry about starvation for a long time," Shenya argued, "So what's the big deal?"

"The big deal is that starvation isn't what we should worry about. It's something Mzugu, that vulture who was with me, the southerner, said to me this morning. 'If the times are bad, both hyenas and lions can descend upon an empire like _vultures'_, those are his exact words."

"Ah, you mean the outside world..." Shenya deducted with a worrisome frown.

"Indeed," nodded Kovu, "The rest of Africa. For a long time, we've been preoccupied with each other, or with internal conflicts; splitting up and reuniting the pride and such. But that vulture from the swamps reminded me that there are other borders than that between our lands..."

"Ah, come on now!" Vitani suddenly exclaimed, "For the Kings' sake, Kovu, now that we've finally made peace and solved all of our longstanding problems, you just invent new ones! What is it with you and worrying? Loosen up for a change. The outer borders weren't a problem before, why would they be now?"

"Well, just to name a few reasons..."

"I think her question was rhetorical." Shenya grinned politely yet a bit mockingly.

"I was aware of that," grumbled Kovu, sounding slightly irritated. He cast a nasty stare at the hyena. "But I will name the reasons why there should be problems nonetheless, 'cause you two should be well aware of 'em. For one, our southern border: the old Swamp-cat is losing his grip. The Southerners always ignored us, and we returned the favor, but if their king is really on the way out, rogues might take over. I will not have a kingdom at my border harboring or supporting rogues!"

"I'm sure that old geezer will have produced a handful of heirs by now," replied Vitani, shelving Kovu's argument as unlikely, "Besides, rogues are after lionesses, not land."

"Yeah, and that's our second problem. Lionesses. Or lions. Or hyenas for all I care. The problem here is..." Kovu seemed to need a few seconds to carefully consider his words, "The problem is... we're short of all three, to put it bluntly."

"Bluntly indeed..."

"Yeah, but a sad truth nonetheless. Years of killing each-other have decimated both the clan and the pride. Before the last war, we both had large – though not huge – prides; big enough to scare the potential 'vultures'. But we decimated each other in the war. Plus, you also banished a part of your clan to the east..."

"I didn't banish them, my brother did," snapped Shenya, suddenly quite vicious, "And I'd prefer you not mention the... 'Westclan-issue' anymore, got it?"

"Okay, okay, calm down, I meant no offense..."

"Just getting the record straight, 's all," replied the hyena, now neutral again.

"Anyway, what I meant to say was, that for the coming five to ten years – that probably includes all of my time as regent – we'll both be suffering from a lack of good jaws to defend ourselves, just in case we were to face a new threat."

"Yeah, I thought about that too," admitted Shenya after a short moment of silence, "But what can we do about it? I mean... it'd be pretty absurd to start proclaiming laws that state we should be making more pups..."

That last phrase she uttered with a giggle, soon joined in her laughter by both Vitani and Kovu. After a few moments, they calmed down again.

"Yeah, good point. Well, at least we're giving 'em the right example. But we still need a solution for the short term. And I'm afraid that for the short term, we're condemned to help each other..."

"I know. To tell you the truth, we have trouble monitoring and marking our borders as it is, let alone defend them," Shenya shrugged, sounding a bit fatalist as she did.

"Exactly what I meant. If we want to defend these lands we've spilled so much blood over, I'm afraid we won't cut it on our own anymore. By fighting each other, we've weakened ourselves up to the point where the only way to defend ourselves is to work together, us former enemies..."

"The irony of fate," smirked the hyena, "All nice words, but from what I've seen of it, neither your pride nor my clan are ready for an alliance. Just making peace already split your pride in half!"

"'t Was just a thought, just a thought. I don't have to be as far reaching as an alliance, by the way. A defensive pact would do, preferably a secret one. But those are just thoughts for the future, I realize that," Kovu admitted. He yawned, stretched and got up.

"Come on ladies, enough talk, let's go get something to eat already."

* * *

"I don't know, I just don't feel like leaving him alone..."

"Come on now, Honey, you won't be leaving him alone. Now go, the little guy will survive five seconds on his own, I assure you."

"It's just that I haven't left him alone before..."

"But you ain't leaving him alone," sighed Nala, obviously a bit frustrated. Who wouldn't, around a daughter like that; where had that girl's adventurous spirit gone? "Look, I know it's hard to let go when they're still this young. But you got to learn to have some confidence, both in your friends and your kids."

"Besides, there's no use in thinking you can hold them at an arms length all the time; I tried it with your mother and failed miserably," Sarafina suddenly noted.

"And I tried it with you too, and as you well know, it only ended up with you bumping into Zira."

"Okay, Okay, cut me some slack already," Kiara grumbled as she slowly got up, "But you better take good care of him, you hear?"

"It won't even blink," Kani reassured grinningly as she carefully nestled herself around Kiara's son.

"And with her, you'd better take that one literally," Nala chuckled, blinking at Kani, "We'll be back soon."

"Take good care of him!"

"We will, girl, please, get going already... Bye now, queenies!"

With that, mother and daughter got up and left the cub in the care of his grandmother and Kani, the friend of the family. That is to say, friend of one half of the family.

"What do you think old Rafiki needs us for anyway? And why couldn't I bring my kid?" Kiara asked as they both made their way up the Priderock, towards the cave where Rafiki had wanted to meet them.

"I have no idea. Maybe he's got some real nasty herbs with him, or 'shrooms, the kind unsuited for children..."

"That would be a pleasant surprise... Anyway, it'd better be good. It's bad enough having to leave my little sweetheart behind as it is, but there are still those rotten hyenas around too..."

"I wouldn't worry too much about them." Nala cast a quick smile at her daughter. "With Kani around, it'll take more than three of them to get to the kid. Believe me, if need be, she'd even take on a hundred of those mangy poachers, if that were what it took to keep my grandson safe."

"Really?"

"You bet. She actually did, last time the hyenas 'visited'. She nearly got eaten alive that day, but she didn't as much as squeal. She didn't even fight back, just to keep the cubs safe; it's easy to fight for something, but to just sit there and take it for the greater good – that takes a Pridelander."

"The Pridelander's pride," Kiara giggled, "Pridelander kinda has two meaning when you think about it..."

"And don't you forget it. Ah, here we are, Rafiki is supposed to be around the bend here. Now it's just through there..."

"I wonder why he picked this eerie cave to meet us," Kiara mumbled, commenting on the fact they had been asked to come over to Taka's former cave, or the 'spare cave' as it was called nowadays, as no-one seemed to be willing to take up residence there.

"Your highnesses," suddenly resounded behind the lionesses. The both startled, unsheathed their claws and turned around, only to find Kiruhu standing behind them.

"For the King's sake, Kiruhu, don't do that!" Nala sighed, "A future shaman should know better than to sneak up on us when there are hyenas around; we might just mistake you for one of them."

"But you didn't, lucky me," noted the cheetah, "If you would be so kind as to proceed further into the cave..."

Kiara considered asking Kiruhu why he was standing behind them, in stead of leading the way, but seeing as she wasn't as paranoid as Kovu was yet, she just silently followed her mother into the cave. She'd soon find out Kiruhu's main purpose was to block off her escape route.  
As Nala unsuspectingly moved into the cave, her nose suddenly caught a familiar yet unnerving scent. But before she had the chance to comment on the smell, she already found herself standing in the middle of Taka's cave. Apart from the expected Rafiki, she didn't really appreciate the others she saw.

"Oh no! No, no, no!" shouted the queen-mother as she noticed who Rafiki had brought as his company.

"Sit down, your highness!" commanded the ape in a surprisingly strict tone, not really how one was expected to address the queen-mother.

"Like hell I am. Come on, Kiara, I've seen enough."

But before Nala and Kiara got the chance to back up out of the cave, Rafiki had already somersaulted towards the entrance, blocking their exit along with Kiruhu. The ape had certainly grown quite accustomed to being blind. Either that, or he had planned and practiced that very stunt beforehand. Probably the latter.

"I'll ask again: sit down, highness!"

For a moment there, it almost looked as if Nala was considering sweeping the ape aside with her paw and moving on. But after a few moments she seemed to come to her senses again.

"You forgot the magic word..." Kiara suddenly noted.

"Sit down, _please."_

With that, both Nala and Kiara shuffled a bit deeper into the cave, although they were carefully not to come too close to the origin of their malcontent; they sat down as far from the also present Kovu, Vitani and Shenya as they could.

"Okay, we're here. Now tell us what it is you want so we can be on our way again."

"What I want? You being a bit more polite would be a start," Rafiki suggested.

"No, seriously, why'd you bring us all down here?" Kovu suddenly asked, "I mean, you know we don't get along, so shoving all of us in this small cave must at least serve some purpose."

"Indeed. And that purpose is related to you all not getting along..."

"So, what, you're going to make all of us hold paws or something?" Vitani smirked, which earned her the obligatory hit on the head with Rafiki's staff. Suddenly, to everyone's amazement, Kovu got up.

"Look, I appreciate the effort, Rafiki, but I don't need this; I'm not the one who's being the intolerant warmonger here. If you want to solve this pride's issues, have fun talking to _her majesty_ Nala, but I've got better things to do..."

"Sit down!"

"No, Kovu's right," Shenya suddenly agreed, "I've more than done my part to further understanding between us already, and yet queenie over there still treats me like dirt. She's the problem, not me. I'm leaving."

With that, Shenya too got up, which seemed to please Nala greatly.

"And so the hyena ran away, as is becoming of her..." she sneered. Shenya, who had been well on her way out, suddenly stopped and turned around.

"What did you say?"

"No, please, run away, that's what your kind does best..."

Shenya started growling, inching closer to the queen-mother. Fortunately, Rafiki intervened before the situation escalated.

"Enough, break it up, both of you!" he shouted, "Shut up and sit down! You too, _sire_."

As everyone reluctantly sat back down, Rafiki started pacing towards the end of the cave, guided by the rock-wall.

"You're smart enough, the whole lot of ya, yet even after decades of blood-soaked lectures, no-one seems to have learned anything," spoke the ape.

"My point exactly," added Kovu, uninvited.

"That goes for you too, sire!" sneered the ape, "You speak of peace, of cooperation, alliances, changes... but in the meantime, you don't seam to have noticed you're losing touch with parts of your pride. You don't see, or you don't care. That's one of the gravest mistakes a ruler can make; being a king or a regent is more than just pushing through your dictates; keeping your pride together is one of the kings most invaluable tasks, even if that means not always doing things the way you'd want to. Your pride does not have to follow you; you have to make them follow you, all of them, not just a select portion. In that, you are not at all unlike your father..."

"It's about time he heard it from someone else," agreed Nala.

"... but that works both ways," continued the shaman, glaring at Nala, "Subjects are not supposed to just mindlessly obey all that their king tells them. To the contrary: for both their king's and their pride's sake, it is a subject's duty be critical of what their leader does. But being critical does not mean you have to automatically disapprove of everything your king does, nor does it mean you should just criticize from a distance. You offer a lot of criticism, dear Nala, but I have yet to hear your first possible solution to our kingdom's problems. Are you even concerned with finding solutions?"

"Of course not, she's just bitter, vengeful and prejudiced..." spat Shenya with obvious satisfaction.

"... says the Matriarch who had no qualms about starting a war of extermination to avenge her family," noted Rafiki as he put Shenya in her place as well, "And do not try and tell me that was all in the past, for you still uphold the banishment of a large portion of your own clan. A banishment whose only backing seems to be a thirst for vengeance against those who betrayed your brother and put you on the path that ultimately led to his death. No, you are just as vengeful and flawed as anyone else in this room."

"And I guess that makes you perfect, doesn't it?" Vitani suddenly commented, after a long and uneasy silence.

"No. It doesn't," sighed the ape. For a moment there, he let his own emotions shimmer through and seemed genuinely upset. "I've made my share of mistakes in the past. Mistakes we still pay for, all of us. In fact, that's what I brought you all up here for; there is something I want to show you..."

Kovu took a quick glance around the cave, but he saw nothing out of place; no objects, no paintings, nothing out of the ordinary. Like anyone else in the cave, he was left guessing what exactly it was Rafiki wanted to 'show' them. The ape seemed to have predicted their reaction.

"I said I'd show you something, but that doesn't mean I'll show you something you can actually see..."

He paused, probably for dramatic effect.

"No, I'll show you something entirely different. I'm about to show you that which is lost forever, I'll show you our very own past!"

All predators in the room briefly stared at the shaman, then at each other. Subsequently, most of them shrugged. Vitani took it upon herself to voice everyone's opinion.

"Well, eh... that's... that's very neat of you. But... well, you know... why?"

"Well, I figured that if I couldn't get you guys to get along, I might as well try the next best thing. I'll make you understand."

"Understand what?"

Vitani yelped as she was once again hit on the head.

"I'll make you understand. No more, no less. Come to think of it, it's something I should have done a long time ago already. But I guess I just wasn't ready then..."

Silence.

"Okay..." Kovu suddenly mumbled, "So... what do we do now?"

The black-maned regent instantly cowered when he saw the mandrill reach for his staff once again. But to his surprise, the obligatory blow on the head never came. I stead, the ape just fiddled around a bit with the vegetation he always kept tied up at the top of his staff. After a while, he seemed to have found what he was 'looking' for (he was still blind, after all).

"Ah, here it is. Right, Cheetah! Get over here!"

Kiruhu obediently slacked over towards Rafiki, who handed him whatever it was he had in his hands.

"Now, make sure yo don't swallow this. Not yet anyhow. Give everyone some of it..."

Doing as he was told, the apprentice shaman deposited some of what he was holding in his mouth before each animal. Kiara had trouble identifying it at first, but then she recognized it as being some sort of dried-up mushrooms.

"Mom, you were right: 'shrooms," Kiara giggled under her breath.

"Are these what I think they are?" Kovu noted disdainfully.

"I told you I'd show you the past," replied Rafiki, "But I can't do that without some help. What we're gonna do here is that I'll recount the tale of our near past, while you work those mushrooms down. In doing so, you will be able not only to hear what I tell you, but also to live it whole. You will be able too live and feel the joy, but you'll also suffer the horror. When that is over, I can only hope you'll understand. Are you all prepared to do this?"

"Is declining an option?"

"No."

"I figured you'd say that," mumbled Vitani, as she looked down on the scrimpy mushroom at her paws, "Well, here goes nothing..."

"Don't forget to chew!"

Everyone ate his share. When all mushrooms had disappeared, the animals all looked at each other more or less expecting to see something different. As one could expect, the effects of their snack still had to kick in.

"All right, we can begin," said Rafiki, his voice suddenly awfully potent and booming to the other animal's ears, "For starters, I'll take you back to a strange meeting I had a while ago, a few months after the Reunion. After that, we'll get to the real story, but somehow, I feel it is appropriate I tell you this first...  
Probably because, now that I look back on it, I should have been able to see it then already... but I didn't, unfortunately.

Now, the meeting... It happened on a cold and rainy day..."


	4. Bad Moon Rising

**Bad Moon Rising**

"Ya should think of it as a challenge, no?"

"Please, spare me that motivational mumbo-jumbo." Rafiki couldn't help but chuckle, even though Zazu's smirk made him look less than amused, "A challenge? Don't make me laugh..."

"Talkin 'bout laughing: you'd do well considerin' dat more often..."

"Finding a hyena with half a brain, that's a challenge," Zazu retorted, completely disregarding Rafiki's advice, "But what I'm up against... nearly impossible!"

"I no can be that bad..."

"No? You'd think that, wouldn't you. But I dare you: try finding one intelligent life form in that genetic dumpster commonly referred to as my family, just one!"

"That be harsh words 'bout your own blood..."

"But that doesn't make it any less true," grumbled Zazu. Whilst speaking, he started hopping from branch to branch at an ever increasing rate; few issues got him more wound up the the current sorry state his once-refined family was in, "A bunch of nitwits, that what they are. All of those youngsters, compared to my generation, they're imbeciles, plain and simple. Not one gifted spirit among them fit for the office of majordomo, bah!"

"What 'bout that nephew of your's, what's-his-name?" Rafiki's suggestion was immediately answered by Zazu's cold stare.

"You mean Tiko? Don't even get me started on him! Sure, he's clever, but that's all the good there is to be said about him. No tradition, no respect, no morals... A hedonistic opportunist, that's what he is!"

"Others would say he's a bon vivant and a go-getter," grinned Rafiki, reclining on his branch with his eyes closed, "It's ya own fault anyway: shoulda thought 'bout getting' a fine woman and raisin' you own family. Then you'd have no worries about who your successor should be."

"The only thing I'm married to is this Kingdom," replied Zazu, his beak held high as proud as he could.

"Don't sound like an awfully rewarding relation to me... But that's just how it is, I guess. Either way, you'll have to make do with whatcha got now, and that be Tiko."

"Well huzzah..." mumbled Zazu. Suddenly, a thick drop of watter splat apart atop the hornbill's head.

"Your foliage is leaking," noted the bird, staring up at the thick pack of leaves above him which made up the Tree of Life's proverbial roof.

"Maybe that be just da King's way of saying it's time for you to run along home and give me some of dat precious alone time... No offense, but it's way past ma bedtime already, and an old ape needs his sleep."

Although it seemed as if Zazu was considering some amazingly witty return, all he managed was to go into a coughing seizure that seemed to last longer than is healthy. Rafiki considered that the bird had been having those for a long time now, and they started appearing ever more frequently.

"You okay? That sure sound like a nasty cough... Want me to take a look at ya?"

"I-I'm... perfectly... fine," uttered the bird with some effort, trying to suppress further coughs, "It's just this damn weather... This raining season just doesn't seem to want to come to an end! It's months overdue, and it's getting colder by the day... I'll be fine once I get some sun..."

He had a point there: ever since the by now famed 'Reunion' months ago, where Pridelanders and Outlanders had finally put aside their differences, it hadn't stopped raining for a single day, nor had they had one day containing even a mere hour of decent sunshine. The present day was no different: it had started out gray and ended in much the same fashion. Even the nights weren't spared, as the dark clouds obscured the bleak moonlight just as well as the sun's gleaming rays.

"Anyway, I'd best be going now. See you later, Rafiki... Rafiki?"

The ape didn't reply from where he lay with his eyes close. In stead, hes just made some rattling snoring sounds. That was Zazu's cue for leaving.

"That ape never had any manners..." muttered the hornbill as he hopped over to a branch overlooking a gap in the tree's leaves; the perfect place to take off. He looked up at the blackened sky for a moment. "Blasted weather... this place is even worse than England..."

A few moments after the bird had taken to the skies and flew off to Priderock, Rafiki cautiously opened one of his eyes and looked around, after which he uttered a relieved sigh.

"Sheesh, I thought he'd never leave..."

The ape slowly got up and stretched yawningly, after which he felt it was appropriate to scratch his behind. After all: no-one was watching him, he presumed. What better time to scratch one's behind?  
But he had other business to attend to as well, of course; Rafiki had hatched the idea to do some painting the next day. Well, he hadn't really hatched the idea, it had more or less come to him; those things happen when you serve as a shaman, the link to the world of the Ancient Kings. And those Ancient Kings had given him the order to start making paint; it really isn't that complicated. So he started making paint. Mind you, he conditions weren't ideal; the air was too moist, which made the colored dust he kept in separate pouches a bit pasty and sticky. Chances were the paint would become a bit chunky. But that wasn't a big deal; after all, he was a shaman, not an artist. The paint's quality would suffice.  
After having found the fruit he was looking for in his expansive collection, Rafiki added the goo he found inside to the colored dust he had already placed in a more or less concave piece of bark. He repeated that procedure two times, each time with a different kind of dust. After a while, he ended up having three colors each on a different plate of bark. In the dry season, he'd have probably had to use the paint right away, but in moist conditions, he could risk leaving them out for at least a night.  
Since he would rather not risk having the plates with paint falling out of the tree at night, he decided too depose them at the base of the Tree of Life. This course of action naturally held it's own risks, namely that the paint were eaten by some ignorant fool who mistook the substance for a free snack. In the past, Rafiki had had a very effective way of dealing with that problem, namely adding small amounts of laxative to the paint. As he grew older however, the ape couldn't afford wasting those anymore, so he just hoped previous experiences were enough to deter possible threats to the paint.  
Confident the night would bring the visions he needed to tell him what to paint, the ape finally climbed up his tree and lay down on his favorite branch for a well earned nights rest.

Or so he thought.

Halfway a dream of which the content will forever remain a mystery, Rafiki suddenly veered up. That could only mean he had heard a noise which he had found disturbing, even though he was too fast asleep to have noticed it consciously. Shamans can do that, you know. Staying perfectly still, the ape tried to find out what it actually was that had awoken him, yet heard nothing but the monotonous clatter of raindrops falling. Then, out of the night's pitch black darkness that surrounded him, he heard another sound: rustling grass, muted by he rain's background choir. Not the kind of rustle cause by a sudden gust of wind, no, it was the distinct rustle of someone sneaking.  
Motivated by the desire to keep his newly created paint from being spoiled, he decided to take a look down, at the base of the tree. As it was rather dark, he didn't really see anything at first. But as if by divine intervention, the moon suddenly shone through a small gap in the cloud deck above, making the base of the Tree of Life visible. To Rafiki's shock, he saw no paint. Not only had the paint disappeared, but the bark plateaus on which he had made the substances were gone as well. That was rather odd, as it could mean the paint had been stolen intentionally. Who on earth would want to do that? Painters, be it amateurs or professionals, were few and far in between to say the least.  
Then there was yet another rustle. Rafiki quickly grabbed his trademark staff and hopped out of the tree. Chances were the culprit was still around. If he was, he was in for the beating of a lifetime. The only problem was: Rafiki couldn't see squat; the moon had disappeared again. He'd have to rely on his other senses then.

"Hey, who's out there?" he shouted. No response. "You'd better show yaself!"

Nothing but the incessant rain pouring down.

"Don't make me come over there, or you're in for for a world of pain!"

Another rustle.

"What the hell's that foo thinking, stealing my paint..." grumbled the ape as he cautiously inched closer, careful not to make a sound, "Don't think I don't know where you are 'cause I can't see nuthin'..."

For a moment there, standing some feet away from his tree, out in the pouring rain, Rafiki imagined smelling something he hadn't smelled in a long, long time. But by the time he realized what it was, the events had already caught up with him.  
A bolt of lighting briefly lit up the surroundings in the brightest light. That's when he saw.  
Half a dozen shadows around him, seemingly within arm's reach. Had they closed in on him, or had they just stood there, waiting, luring him into a trap? It seemed as if he'd never find out, since the figures all simultaneously moved in on the ape.  
As the situation seemed to have escalated from a paint related dispute into a matter of life and death, Rafiki had no other choice than to attempt a desperate escape by swinging his staff around to ward of attackers, whilst somersaulting backwards to get out of their reach. The first part of that daring maneuver went well, as it didn't take long for Rafiki to feel his staff hitting a target (though he couldn't see who and where), but things went awkward right after that, as he felt four pairs of yaws mercilessly clamping his limbs in their iron grip. This, of course, made the ape fall down in the mud, after which a fifth assailant pressed Rafiki down. Although he could feel the enemy was rather bony as it pressed down on him, Rafiki still had a hard time breathing. The fact his head was being forcefully pressed to the ground with one paw probably had something to do with that, it's had breathing when your mouth is cluttered with mud. One of his nostrils was still open, however, which allowed him to identify the enemy on the basis of smell. It left little to the imagination: hyenas, the whole lot of 'em. They were about the last thing Rafiki had expected to encounter on a cold an wet day late in the rainy season. He was actually rather surprised there were any left, so to speak. The last Rafiki had seen of 'em was them getting their asses handed to them on and around Priderock a few years ago, in the aftermath of Simba's ascension as king.  
But that didn't change a thing about Rafiki's current, rather perilous, situation. He tried calling for help, but found his cries muffled as his face remained pressed to the ground. Trying to wrestle himself from the hyenas' yaws wasn't an option either, for obvious reasons; the nickname 'bone-crushers' is more than just a nickname.

"You, get his staff!" he heard hiss the hyena on top of him to one of her subordinates. Next, she lowered her head slightly to address Rafiki, her voice no more than a crude whisper, "Listen, baboon, we both know there's no-one coming to save you. The lions don't do patrols when it's raining, and they won't be hunting tonight either. The only other ones who are still awake are the leopards, and they're staying clear of this place for the time being. The rain makes it impossible for anyone to smell us from a distance, or hear you screams for help. So don't even bother..."

"I ain't no baboon," gritted Rafiki, "It's maddril to you."

"I hear you still haven't gotten rid of that preposterous accent," another voice suddenly retorted out of the dark night, hoarse and weak. The speaker seemed to find talking awfully tiresome, as he could be heard laboriously drawing breath in between words, "I mean, you'd think more than a decade would certainly suffice for someone of above normal intelligence to learn how to speak properly. You'd be surprised at what one can accomplish in a decade."

Rafiki was puzzled. What was that guy talking about? Normal predators think in months and years, not decades. Most never even survived a decade. In fact, apart from himself, Rafiki couldn't remember anyone still alive among the predators of the Prideland and their surroundings who had even come close to see his third decade dawn. Certainly no lion...

"Who..."

Before Rafiki could finish his question, however, the sky above them suddenly started to clear: the rain gradually stopped, and faint moonlight broke through. It made the animal in front of him visible to Rafiki. The one thing he immediately noticed was how skinny he was: Rafiki could actually count his ribs. Overall, he looked rather scruffy, even to hyena standards: his fur was messy and bleak, his eyes dull and one of his hind paws seemed to hang limp, trailing behind him uselessly as the hyena slowly ventured forward. The only thing about him that didn't appear to be worn out were his stiff, thick manes, although they too were undoubtedly starting to turn rather grayish. Those manes were also about the only characteristic which seemed vaguely familiar to Rafiki.

"Is that... no... you..."

The hyena just smiled faintly, after which he called out to one of his accomplices.

"Did you get his staff? Great, hand it over..."

From the corner of his eyes Rafiki could see the hyena he had presumably hit with his staff limp towards the scrawny hyena, carrying the totem in her mouth. She deposited it in front of him.

"That old ape still packs quite a punch," she grumbled.

"I know," replied the other as he reached down to grab the staff, grumbling "That's why I've always wanted to do this..."

Fearing that the predator was about to break his precious totem in two, Rafiki urged him to reconsider.

"Hey, what the hell ya think ya'r doin'? Don't ya dare hurt my staff!"

Disregarding all angry comments made by Rafiki, the hyena still grabbed the staff in between his teeth. But in stead of breaking it in two, as Rafiki had feared, he just moved closer, swung his head sideways and hit Rafiki with all the strength he had. Not surprisingly, Rafiki yelped in pain as he was hit over the head with his own totem.  
After having clobbered Rafiki, the hyena carelessly tossed the wooden staff aside. It ricocheted off the Tree of Life.

"How do you like being on the receiving end for once?"

"Not funny, not even a little... Aren't you supposed to be dead already?" grumbled Rafiki in annoyance, still unable to move, now with a painful bruise on his head.

"You'd know, wouldn't you?" sneered the hyena, "You left me to die all those years ago..."

"A bit late to come crawling here demanding apologies, don't you think?"

"Please, don't make me laugh... your excuses are about as much use to me now as those imagined ghouls you call 'Kings of the Past'. I'm not here for apologies – although you more than owe them after all you did."

"I wouldn't know what you are talking about..." Although it wasn't apparent ant from what he said, the way the ape turned away his eyes from whom he was talking to went some way in revealing a trace of guilt, "I've never done more than my duty to the King of these lands and the Kings in the Sky..."

With surprising dexterity, the old hyena suddenly scrambled forward and grabbed Rafiki by the hairs. Since one of the hyena's remaining paws seemed to be worthless, he had no choice but to sit down before doing so, which negated some of the intended dramatic effect.  
As Rafiki's head was forcefully jerked up, he came face to face with his old acquaintance. Not surprisingly, the hyena's teeth were in the same desolate state as the rest of his body, with infection running rampant throughout both his fangs and his gums. The resulting smell was simply appalling, and made even the otherwise cool Rafiki cringe. 

"Your duty? Your duty!" Wave after wave of the animal's warm, nauseating breath engulfed Rafiki's face as the hyena growled at him, "I dare you, come say that to my face! Your duty would have been to resist the forces of madness, but instead you embraced them. Don't think I didn't hear it all, of how you gave that monster the blessing of your so-called 'Kings of the Past'. No, Rafiki, you raped everything there is sacred about your duty the moment you expelled me and my people from your beloved 'Circle of Life'..."

"You owe that to none other than yourselves," Rafiki spat back, "You placed yourselves out of the circle the moment your people killed Ahadi's brother Razi, and his beloved Queen Uru..."

"I should rip your tongue out for just saying that..." whispered the hyena, after which he suddenly released Rafiki's hair, causing the ape's head to plunge back into the mud, "But I don't have enough power left in my paws, or teeth in my mouth, for that. Besides, that's not what I came to find you for at all..."

Silence.

"I suppose you expect me to ask what it is you're here for, then?" Rafiki guessed after a while.

"Close, but no cigar," The hyena grinned, albeit only faintly, as every move he made seemed to result in an unhealthy dose of pain and fatigue. "We're saving that for later. I couldn't help but notice you has some paint prepared..."

"Of course you noticed, you stole it..."

"Thugs steal. When I do it, it's called compulsory redistribution of goods," Even though he was in a rather uncomfortable position, not being able to move and such, Rafiki still couldn't help but laugh at that remark. "Glad to see we still got the same kind of humor. Now where's that paint?"

Within seconds, the same hyena that had fetched Rafiki's staff brought forward the three plateaus and deposited them in between Rafiki's old acquaintance and the Tree of Life. The elder hyena then limped towards the paint, sat down and took a bit of the paint on the tip of his paw. Than he just sat there for a few moments, seemingly just getting the feel of the paint.

"This sure has been a long time," he mumbled, "I wonder if I still got 'it'..."

He moved one of his paws in the direction of the Tree of Life, when he was suddenly interrupted by a loud shriek originating from Rafiki.

"Stop! Stay clear of the Tree! Don't you dare touch it!"

The hyena smirked.

"Don't worry, stupid ape, I still remember: no painting on the Tree of Life. It's not like I could ever forget after that scolding you once gave me," He looked around for a moment, until he had found what he was looking for: a flat stone at the tree's base. "Here, a stone, I can paint on that can I?"

"Don't be a smartass, you know what you can and can't do. And get to the point already, I'm sure you didn't come here to paint my blasted portrait," grumbled the mandrill. The hyena seemed not to have heard that last bit, though, as he just went on and started painting on the flat rock in front of him. After a few minutes, however, he gave up.

"Nope, I've lost it. My paws shake too much now. Too old, I guess..."

A long silence ensued.

"Never wondered what life would have been if all that trash hadn't happened back then?" Rafiki just looked away, mumbling something incoherent. He obviously wasn't in the mood for answering that question. "It sure would have been a lot simpler if I had just sticked to painting..."

"Life is what it is. We all follow the path the Circle of Life has set out for us, it's no use speculating on 'what if'," the mandrill ultimately answered after another uncomfortable silence. But deep down inside, he knew that wasn't exactly true. Most animals followed a predictable path, a foreseeable path even. It was their life a shaman could spell out, if need be with help from the Kings of the Past. But like any system, this one too had unpredictable variables, something which Rafiki had only realized once it was already too late.

"And telling yourself that is what makes you sleep at nigh, right?"

"Talking about the issue of sleeping at night, how 'bout doin' what the hell it was you came here for and then pissing off again?" retorted the ape, now more angry than annoyed.

"Good point, actually... We shouldn't waste each others time."

"So... whatcha here for then?"

"I'm here so we could write history." That of course earned the carnivore a somehow what surprised look from Rafiki. "I figured you wouldn't get what I'm going at, not at first anyway. So I'll break it down for you. What is history, Rafiki?"

"What happened in the past, duh."

"No. History is that which the past is said to be. And in all these Pridelands, and beyond, there really is only one who others will believe when he tells them what the past has been. The one even Kings turn to. You."

For a moment there, both animals just stared at each other.

"You're giving me too much credit here," Rafiki eventually noted, "And besides, when someone wants to know 'bout the history of these lands, I just tell them what happened. No more no less."

"You know that's a lie. You just tell your side, you tell what others made you believe has happened..."

"And I suppose you're here to give me your side? Why would yours be any better then mine?"

"No reason at all. But it's time the other side's tale were told nonetheless."

"Why now?" Rafiki continued to question. It seemed the hyena had trouble answering at first. Then he moved his head closer, right up to Rafiki's ear, and whispered.

"I blew it, Rafiki. I blew it. Yesterday, I was just an inch away from death. And I suddenly realized I had nothing. I've lost everyone I ever loved. I betrayed my friends. I estranged myself from my own kids... For what? I wasted my time believing revenge could somehow wind back time, but yesterday, I realized it can't," He moved his head back, looking Rafiki in the eyes again. "I figured I had to do at least one decent thing before I'm gone. I'm going to fulfill a promise I made to someone I now consider a friend, and whom I betrayed, not unlike many others."

If there's one thing you should never do, it's mock someone when they're in an emotional, trusting state. Not only is it rather insensitive, but it's simply dangerous. Emotional usually means instable. Instable means unpredictable. Unpredictable is always dangerous. And since Rafiki ultimately felt some compassion, not to mention guilt, for the hyena whom he was talking to now, he decided to abandon the mockery altogether.

"Okay, go ahead..."

The carnivore seemed to need a minute to regain his breath.

"Zira died a few months ago," he suddenly spoke, "She went to war, and just before the end, she, lost her children, lost her pride and lost all hope.   
Everyone seemed surprised her story abruptly ended like that... but I think she knew beforehand. Or at least, she must've feared it, because the eve before sending her son out to infiltrate the Pride, before she put her 'grand plan' in motion, she came to see me. And after I had declined every last one of her proposals, she asked me to promise just one thing, and then she'd be on her way.  
At the time, I considered her request rather odd, but I think I get it now. She asked me that if, 'by some unimaginable misfortune', she didn't make it and 'Simba won', I would just do one thing: keep the memory of Taka and her alive the way she remembered it, no matter what slander would be told after her passing. Zira counted on me to make sure 'her' truth be told, just in case.  
That's when she told me her story.  
Now, I'm telling you."

_That's when he told me Zira and Taka's story.  
And now, I'm telling you his. And mine. And Taka', Zira's, Mufasa's... The story that almost went untold. Almost. _


	5. Fin de Sciècle

_**Author's notes: **_

_**Okay, first point of the day: a thousand apologies to you all, And a whole lot of shame on myself. I know, it's been an awfully long time since I last updated (and now that I do, it's with this miniature chapter). I wish I had a decent excuse, but I don't. So there, another thousand apologies. I'll try to update more regularly from now on, but I can't promise anything... **_

_**And as if that weren't enough, I'll have to apologize for yet another thing: making things that should have been simple complicated by accident. More specific, this story. I am fully aware the cohesion will be a bit lost after you finish reading this chapter, so I'll try framing it a bit.  
The first fanfic I wrote (check my gallery) was "TLK III The Circle of Life ..." (yes, I suck at titles), and it chronologically takes place about a year after the events in "TLK II Simba's Pride". A lot of things in that story were a bit hazy, that was because I was planning on writing some prequels (I left some questions open, which would be answered in the prequels). This story, "TLK IV the Corrupter", was supposed to be the first of a series of prequels. However, as you might have noticed, I started the story by continuing where "TLK III" had left of (thus, the first three chapters were a semi-sequel to TLK III). The next one was a flashback. This chapter is yet another flashback, which goes further back than the previous one. Yes, I am aware this is confusing, and misleading. I'm sorry, but that's just how it turned out.  
Now, To set you up for the chapter you are about to read: we have gone back a number of years and the story starts just after the death of legendary King Mohatu, father of Ahadi (who is himself the father of Mufasa). So that's where we are, you'll have to read to find out the rest.**_

_**Now, some of you were probably already aware of all this (if you attentively and carefully read all the stuff I previously scribbled down), but I thought it wouldn't hurt to get things straight. So here you are, I hope you'll enjoy it.**_

* * *

**Fin de Sciècle**

You know, the Pridelands used to be a really nice place. I mean, not that it's bad now but... I just seem to remember it all a bit more sunny. And I was still a bit younger, that helps; a young shaman on top of the world. Sort of. Not really.

* * *

"If I didn't know any better, I'd say you're late..."

Short of looking outright annoyed at that comment, Rafiki yawned ostentatiously. It occurred to him only too late that might have been a pretty offensive thing to do in the current situation. But then again, he was awfully tired.  
Kikale was of course quick to notice Rafiki's little faux-pas, and it only added to her smirk.

"... but I suppose we should be _grateful_ you two even bothered to show up."

"Sure, blame the hyena," Agathe grumbled. She sat down for a moment to allow Rafiki to get down from her back. "If it hadn't been for me waking him up and degrading myself to his beast of burden, our friend the shaman here would probably still be snoring."

"Hey, I said I was sorry already," Rafiki tried defending himself, although at so low a volume he seemed to hope no one would hear it, "But it's been a hard week on all of us..."

Kikale, however, seemed to be on a roll. Not that she got kicks out of trying to bring others down, but as Rafiki said, it had indeed been a hard week on everyone. Probably, the elderly lioness needed to let loose some steam – not to mention that losing her life partner had probably done some damage too.

"If it had only been the coming late... Damn it, just try showing some respect for once!" Kikale's tone had already taken more shrill a tone. "You owe everything to him, yet you don't even bother showing up on time when..."

"Easy, Kikale, easy..." The old lion's rasping voice barely registered, almost drowned out by the noise of the river that violently ran it's course down below, still bloated by the recent rain-season's downpour. Arista slowly looked up from the river, then turned around to face Kikale. As his dark brown manes got caught in a draft rising up out of the river's canyon, it must've been apparent to everyone how thin the Outland's King's manes were becoming lately. Not that Arista cared, though; he knew that to command respect, it takes more than just looks – composure was far more important. And at that, the elderly king excelled: even now, as he started becoming old and frail, Arista could still silence the mightiest of kings with just a single stare.

"Mohatu was dear to all of us. You just can't say Rafiki doesn't respect him, you know that isn't true. Same goes for Agathe – or so I presume."

"Or so he _presumes_... Jerk..." Rafiki heard Agathe mumble. Tthe two lions didn't seem to hear her at all – probably for the better. It wasn't a secret that of all the lions in both the Outlands and the Pridelands, only Mohatu had been on cordial terms with the old hyena Agathe and her clan. And now Mohatu was gone.

Meanwhile, Kikale seemed to have gotten her temper down a bit, and tried getting back to behaving the way a former Queen should, that is dignified and restrained. Not that anyone blamed her for behaving otherwise, though. She was in a tough spot, after all, even for someone with the resilience any Queen is supposed to posses. She turned to Arista.

"You're right," she sighed sadly, "I apologize... You all miss Mohatu too, I know... But it's different to lose a leader and a husband that to just lose a leader and a friend, you know?"

That last question seemed aimed more at Arista than at the group: the King of the Outlands had, after all, been in a similar position as Kikale not too long ago, when he had lost his Queen to the unrelenting passing of time. The thought of her seemed to hit the king hard, as he momentarily averted his gaze, back towards the river. Only months ago had they stood at exactly the same location, poised to preform the same ritual, only that time around Mohatu had still been alive, and they had mourned the passing of Arista's mate.

"Shaman, it's getting late – proceed with the ceremony."

Happy to finally have something to do other than stand by uncomfortably listening to tales of death and demise, Rafiki was quick to shrug off most of his sleepiness, and get to work. With a certain air of routine, the shaman carefully preformed all the rituals involved with the passing ceremony. Rafiki felt pretty comfortable doing so, it was, after all, not his first time he had preformed that particular ceremony. If there was one thing he by now knew how to do well, it was giving the dead their final farewell. The grim thought occurred to him that he had probably already buried more animals than he had seen being born, so to speak.

Sadly enough, that's how a shaman's life goes. It's no coincidence that a new shaman's first assignment is to pray farewell to his deceased predecessor after taking his place. A great many funerals had followed, as opposed to only one presentation ceremony, that of prince Mufasa a few months back. As unappropriated as it might have been, given that he was in the process of giving someone his last rites, Rafiki couldn't stop think about that first presentation ever he had had to do completely on his own.

He couldn't stop think about it because he had messed up, being the inexperienced klutz he was at the time – kicking over all those attributes he had brought with him, almost dropping the young prince. Not really his finest hour, mostly because of the tremendous stress involved; having thousands and thousands of eyes fixed upon you really messes with your groove. That wasn't really an issue now, however, as the current ceremony was neither public nor mandated by the heavens.

It was more of a private, intimate tradition really, the whole show they were putting up now. The rituals involved were more of a do-over of the official passing ceremony that had been hosted earlier, at Priderock. That also meant Rafiki could afford to make mistakes this time around – which, oddly enough, actually meant he made less. It's a pressure thing .

As for those attending, one could truthfully say it was a rather exclusive gathering. So exclusive it even excluded the current King of the Pridelands, Ahadi. Originally the party had consisted of the now late Mohatu and his partner, the still surviving Kikale, King and Queen of the Priderock lions; Arista and his now deceased queen, rulers of the Outlands; the current king and queen of the Southern Kingdom; and also Agathe, matriarch of the Prideland hyenas. At first glance, such might appear just a gathering of the local upper society, but that was not entirely true: their bond was not so much functional as it was personal. All these animals had know each other for years, and most of them thanked their lives to each other. They were what had made Mohatu into the icon he is today, one could say – although it is also true that it was Mohatu himself who had once prodded them to do so. You all know this story – most of it anyway.

* * *

There was a time when a pride was not inherited, but taken, and when the eyes of one pride never reached beyond it's own borders. That was the time before Mohatu.

He was the first lion to not agree with the tradition that a son, when fully grown, goes out to become a rogue lion, and secure his own pride by killing another lion and his offspring. How could such a tradition favor but thugs, and petty tyrants, Mohatu reasoned. So he decided to not go and seek out a new pride, but remain with the one his father had once claimed. Mohatu's father, however, himself no more than a violent rogue and a terrible ruler, would not allow that.

In the end, his father became so violent Mohatu had no choice but to slay him himself. In doing so, he forever conquered the hears of his pride members, who had always suffered incredibly under the yoke of Mohatu's father, and were exalted to finally prosper under a generous and fair ruler.

But even though Mohatu had been able to throw of the fate of becoming a rogue lion, and had spared his pride from having to suffer one, the world was still filled with lions desperate enough to kill for their own pride. And so, other rogues came to the Pridelands. First, one rogue came, but he was defeated. Soon, another followed, and another, then two others. But Mohatu was able to defeat every last one of them.

But then, four rogues came and faced him. Even for a lions as strong as him, four rogues were too much to handle. But then something happened no lion had ever before seen in their lifetime: his lionesses rose up to Mohatu's defense, and helped him defeat the rogues. For the lionesses, the choice had been obvious: either help Mohatu, or return to a life of fear, violence and abuse. From then on, rogues came to the Pridelands no longer.

But Mohatu's troubles were not yet over, for some of the rogues he had defeated lived still, now bitter and vengeful. Some of them had found prides, on which they projected all their anger and frustration, killing many of their own lionesses. But yet they still could not forget the one pride that had collectively risen up to defend their original king. It sickened them, filled them with envy and cold anger. They would have their revenge, it meant everything to them. To that end, they gathered a large number of stray rogues, and put them together with what remained of their own meager prides. And then, they marched on the Pridelands, intent on killing every last one of the animals living their to still their blood lust, not to take over the pride but to simply eradicate it.

This story most of you probably know, it's the story of the Rogue War. Needless to say Mohatu defeated the rogues, cementing his position as the founder of our kingdom. However, what is often forgotten in this tale is that Mohatu did not stand alone. Using both his enormous charisma and wisdom, he was able to convince the leaders of two neighboring prides, in the Outlands and the South, to join him in his defense against the rogues, arguing that the rogues' madness would also affect them in the long run. Although they were originally both rogues themselves, both kings saw the wisdom in Mohatu's argument and pledged to defend him. Who also decided to stand by Mohatu was a small hyena clan living nearby, the matriarch being a childhood acquaintance of Mohatu – some say he even admired them for their system of succession, and was inspired by it

It was so that all these leaders' fates became intertwined, and they became referring to themselves as 'the Gang', although a more lyrical term would have been 'the Alliance'. It was not so much Mohatu alone that safeguarded the land from rogues, but the coalition he had built. But I suppose it is in our nature that we prefer to attribute all the great deeds of history to a single hero, rather than to get caught up in details and nuances.

* * *

So that was what the whole ceremony was about, it was no more – but certainly no less either – than a gathering of 'the Gang', where they could mourn the passing of one of their friend in their own secluded little circle. Nothing holy, or official, just brothers in arms staging a get together. As such, Rafiki's ceremony was rather limited, and his stay short – after all, he was an outsider to that particular group.

"All right, I'm finished here," the shaman mumbled as soon as his task was accomplished, "If anyone needs me, I'll be at that tree over there until you guys are finished here..."

Arista gave Rafiki a short nod, while the other animals simply ignored him when he silently left the stage. They all just stared forward, in silence, at the river that ran it's course in the canyon below, to which they had before entrusted Mohatu's remains. Their thoughts were now with him, their dear friend and leader. Kikale was the only one to tear up, although she did her best not to let it show. The others just sat there, emerged in thoughts, contemplating both their own and Mohatu's life, how they owed him greatly and would never forget all the great things he had done.

But inevitably, their thoughts all soon turned to their own mortality, to the prospect of they themselves being the subject of a passing ceremony not unlike this one. It was a rather unsettling thought to most, as it became more probably with each passing day. They were all becoming elderly at a crippling pace, after all.

"Scary..." Arista mumbled after several minutes of complete silence.

"What is?"

"That we seem to be getting used to this kind of thing, you know, burying each other..."

"Scarier yet, I get the feeling the only time we ever got together these past few years was when one of us had died," Agathe noted, sounding a bit saddened.

"No, not even now," Arista sighed, shaking his head gently, "Our friends from down South didn't show up this time..."

"Right, what's up with that anyway?"

"Their king is extremely ill, can't even get out of his own cave anymore, and his queen has to stick by him. It won't be long before they too are goners."

"My guess is they won't even invite us to the funeral," Agathe smirked, "Those Southerners have been so isolated lately, we don't hear anything from the anymore."

"That getting old for ya... Some friends fade from existence, some from your view, and others fade from memory..."

"... Until you end up alone, forgotten and lonely, yeah, I heard. I didn't think it applied to us though, I mean, us, 'the Gang'! We were the ones the defeated the Rogue Horde for Heaven's sake, we weren't supposed to just turn senior like anyone else... And yet... Are we really that old already?" Agathe questioned, partly rhetorical, partly sincere. Arista seemed to need a minute to come up with an answer, staring of into the distance.

"You know you're getting old when you start going to your friends' funerals. And you know you're getting really old when fewer and fewer folks begin showing up at every new funeral," Arista finally whispered. That sentence had a morbid sense of humor to it, Agathe thought, and she wasn't sure whether she should smile or cringe at the sound of it.

"I'll sure miss Mohatu though..."

"We can at least take comfort in the knowledge that he led his life to the fullest. His was a good life, and I'm sure he died with the peace of mind that could only have been brought about by the knowledge that you've completed all there was to be done." Arista could have just as well said that '_our life_' had been a good one, as either one of the animals preset there knew their 'mission' in life had been accomplished; their rule was firm, their subjects happy and their neighbors friendly. Except maybe for Arista, who still had some trouble fathering an heir – but then again, he himself considered that as less important – he never shared Mohatu's obsession with succession, only his desire not to face an untimely death at the hands of a rogue.

"He even died the right way."

"How's that?"

"In his sleep. I don't think he himself had ever even as much as hoped for that."

"I hope we'll be as lucky," Arista smirked. Agathe wanted to add that she still though of a good life as being the really lucky strike, rather than a good death, but she decide to keep quiet this time around – now was not the time for joviality, regardless of how cynical it might be.

Everyone sat down, and for the next few minutes, no-one said a word, the only sound being a deep bellowing that rose up from the stream down bellow, in the gorge below. Rafiki had always considered it a rather odd place to bring the deceased, and to give them their final farewell. Sure, it was clean. But the continuous background noise... When you think death, you think silence, not the static roar of a river. Then again, it did have a strange, appealing atmosphere to it; was the entire point maybe to try and conquer the dead silence by countering it with an immortal river's noise?

After a modest eternity, the animals finally got up again, simultaneous – almost as if driven by a single mind. Kikale turned around, facing the others.

"All right... I guess that was all. I'm gratefully you all could find the time to be here now. I – " She teared up for a moment, losing track of her words. It took her some time of staring at the ground before she had again mustered the heart to look back up, "I'm sure Mohatu would have appreciated. I know I did."

"Please, honey, my pleasure. If you'd have asked me to come and meet on the tops of the White Passes, I'd have been there," Agathe smiled in an effort to steer away from the heavy-hearted mood that just kept on lingering overhead. You often have that with funerals.

"I second that – although I doubt I could ever realistically get atop the Passes. I can hardly get up from where I sleep most of the time." Say what you want about Arista, but at least he is self-effacing on occasion. Honesty that hurts, be it others or himself.

"All right, it's been good. Not fun, but good. I think we needed this... Anyway... I guess I'll see you around. 'till Next time, right?"

Everyone got up after Agathe had taken the initiative in breaking up the gathering.

"Right. Stay well, and see you all again soon..."

"At the next funeral, probably," Agathe mumbled to herself after the obligatory goodbyes. Rafiki, living in the same neighborhood as the hyena, found nothing better than to tag along with her. This time, he didn't get a free lift, though; they weren't getting anywhere in a hurry. Just home, to get some sleep in Rafiki's case. For the first time in a week, he'd get the chance to sleep out. He'd kind of made a bad habit of it since his predecessor and mentor had died – with no-one to wake him up to teach him some discipline, all Rafiki did was sleep, and it showed on occasions like this.

"So, you doing anything after this?"

"I'm getting some sleep... That's it, I think."

"Ow, all right..." Rafiki noticed Agathe sounded disappointed. But he felt too tired to get into whatever it was the hyena was struggling with. In truth, he didn't like her that much; they got along, but it'd be a long shot to call 'em friends.

"I feel bad for Mohatu," Agathe suddenly blurted. It seemed she'd be conversing with Rafiki, regardless if he were felling like it or not, "Not to mention Kikale, or his kids... We're really gonna miss him. I'm really gonna miss him, I think..."

"Yeah, I can imagine..."

"I mean, we really do owe everything to him, don't we? If it hadn't been for him, we'd probably still be out fighting it out with lions on every occasion. I'd have probably been dead already. And now he ain't around no more... I mean, not that I don't trust Ahadi... But he ain't Mohatu... He ain't Mohatu..."

"Yeah..."

They had arrived at Rafiki's tree. Rafiki quickly rushed towards it, intent on climbing up and taking a long nap.

"Here's my stop. It's been good having you around, Agathe. Sleep well, and get home safe..." he mumbled without much enthusiasm, after which he quickly slipped up his tree, even before the hyena had the chance to respond.

"Yeah, sleep well..." she sighed, lingering around a bit, staring up at the sky. Eventually though, she took a deep breath, and headed back home. The following day, life would again take it's regular course, and it wouldn't be long before it would seem as if nothing had ever happened.


	6. School's Out

_**Foreword: **_

_**All right, it's been some time... but I'm finally here with a new chapter! Don't get your hopes up, though, the story is still only getting started, introducing new places and people in a relatively carefree atmosphere. **_

_**Alas, I also have some bad news: I probably won't be doing any serious writing for the coming month or so. Exams, people, those take priority! After that, I should have some time on my hands - save for any vacationing that might come up - so I can finally get this story in higher gear.**_

_**I hope you have fun reading!**_

* * *

**School's Out**

_And so it was that one day, Mohatu had disappeared from existence. He hadn't gone unnoticed, far from it: at the peak of his reign, in a time of peace and prosperity, he had left this life for an eternity of serving as this land's protector, among the stars. But even so, he was no less dead for it. Before long, life went on much as it had before, only without Mohatu. Weeks passed, then months._

_Honestly, I'd have to say that almost nothing changed. A lot of bad things can be said about Mohatu's son, Ahadi – although I realize most of those bad things were lost on you youngsters; over time, reality tends to take a back-seat to legend – but the kid – maybe kid isn't the right word, the guy already had a swath of cubs by that time – was a competent administrator. More distant than his father, mind you, but it's hard to match Mohatu on that front. _

_Everyone had high hopes for Ahadi, and by and large, he lived up to them, a remarkable achievement in it's own right. Of course, he did have some great minds working for him, if I may say so myself: Zuzu, Zazu' mother and a great majordomo, not to mention a genius jurisprudential pioneer; Razi, Mohatu's adopted son; Uru, Ahadi's queen; and last but not least, me myself, the famous shaman._

_That last one sounded a bit too self-important, didn't it?_

* * *

"Hello?"

"Anyone here? Rafiki?"

"Come on down, monkey, we've got you a banana!"

"Shut your piehole! If you got problems, go home and badmouth your momma, but here, you show some respect for the Shaman."

"Jeez, sorry..."

Whilst the mild bickering dragged on down below, Rafiki slowly started waking up, still obscured from sight by the thick pack of leaves that adorned "his" tree, the so-called Tree of Life. If the aim of his guests had been to wake him up, they had fully succeeded. If their aim had been to saddle him up with a terrible mood, they had succeeded as well: as if the fact they had woken him up wasn't bad enough on it's own, their muttering seriously aggravated the throbbing headache from which Rafiki suffered, only adding to his state of general annoyance.

Admittedly, the headache was his own fault; he should have known those particular herbs would dehydrate him. He considered drinking more water next time he needed a herb-induced spiritual up-link to the heavens, and maybe using some less potent stuff. The Kings of the Past weren't telling much these days anyway.

Rafiki quickly grabbed a small piece of tough, dried fruit he always kept at hand, mostly to get the bad taste and even worse smell out of his mouth – some rather awkward-reeking substances he used for the before-mentioned spiritual obligations; don't ask. Even though the visitors were quite unwelcome, the shaman still had a surprising degree of courtesy. Of course, part of searching and chewing that particular breath-enhancing fruit also served to keep the guests waiting a bit; that ought to show 'em exactly what Rafiki thought about them. A pathetic way of getting back at them? Perhaps.

"Who dares disturb my slumber?" Rafiki grumbled, after which he swiftly swung down from one of the tree's branches, ending up facing his guests whilst he hung upside down.

"You know what, that actually sounded pretty cool, you should do that more often! A bit pompous, though..."

Rafiki cringed upon observing the hyena's crooked smile, not so much because he disliked him, but mostly because he had clearly not invested the same effort in removing any unpleasant odors from his breath as Rafiki had. You get used to that, though, if you're faced with predators on a daily basis. Still, there are certainly more pleasant ways of starting your day. From the corner of his eye, he saw another hyena – the one that had made the _really_ old banana joke – taking of again; he had probably just came along until they knew for sure Rafiki was indeed present at his tree.

"Good afternoon, Sal..."

"You mean good morning, it's not past noon yet..."

"I know. That's cause you woke me up..."

"I did? Oh..." Rafiki couldn't quite tell whether the hyena was being sincere, or just being a jerk, "Sorry about that, I guess. I thought you weren't nocturnal..."

"I ain't. I just like sleeping out..."

"Well, regardless, you're awake now, so you could just as well help me out..."

"Wow, wait, wait..." Realizing he probably wouldn't get a chance to go back to bed, Rafiki let go of his tree and landed on the ground, landing behind the visitor. In stead of getting back to him, the Shaman took the time to stretch, trying to get most of the sleep out of his bones. "You come here, wake me up with all your noise, don't tell me what you came here for in the first place – and now you expect me to help you with... what exactly?"

"I didn't mention it yet?"

"Nope."

"You know what, it's a short walk from here, why don't I tell you on the way?"

"Why should I come along if I don't even know what it's about?"

"All right, all right. I suspect there's been some violence on our territory, and I kinda need your help to try and figure out what it's all about..."

Rafiki gave the hyena he knew only as "Sal" – he suspected it was an abbreviation, but never got to asking him about it – a skeptical look, not really being too enthusiast about the vague story he put up. Then again, Sal was one of the very few hyenas Rafiki actually liked having around, and he was pretty sure the guy wouldn't have disturbed him without good reason. So why not tag along, he had an empty schedule until something past noon anyway, seeing as he was now up early.

Besides, the part about the violence sounded a bit exciting; even a shaman wasn't above craving some cheap sensation every now and then.

"All right, whatever. Show me the way..."

* * *

"So you _suspect_ there's been some violence, huh?"

Sal snickered when he saw the look on Rafiki's face.

"Well, you know, I could have told you all about it, but that would have ruined the surprise!"

Quite honestly, Rafiki had indeed suspected there was going be more to this trip than Sal had let slip at first. Quite typical of him to have pulled this joke, really. Just to make sure he had seen it right, Rafiki looked up again, at the nearly leafless tree's upper branches. His mind hadn't fooled him: up in the tree was indeed a cheetah. And that was pretty peculiar because...

"Cheetah's don't climb trees..."

"And they don't have wings either, so go figure... And he isn't really moving, breathing or talking, so I'm guessing he's dead, and dead cheetah's don't go anywhere, up trees least of all," Sal noted sec, "I think someone put him up there, for some reason. But we won't know for sure until we get him down..."

"But since hyenas don't climb trees either, you want _me_ to do that, I get it..."

"Please, my esteemed Shaman, you really shouldn't feel obliged..."

Whilst Rafiki and Sal had been talking, a small crown had gathered under the tree, all animals curious to see what all the ruckus was about. Their stares, along with the fact Sal had already awoken him just for this, made it clear Rafiki _did_ have to feel obliged.

"Yeah, right. Wait here..."

The shaman took a quick look around, and was happy to see that there were, for the time being, no other cheetah's around; that would probably make Rafiki's task easier: no screams of indignation should he accidentally drop the corpse.

Upon arriving up in the tree, he was pleased to find that the cheetah hadn't stiffened entirely, although he was starting to get a bit rigid by now. He figured it'd be better to hurry up. The fact the body was remarkably light facilitated that, and in a matter of minutes Rafiki was back on the ground. He put the cheetah down carefully.

"You were right, he's dead."

"I figured so," Sal nodded as he crouched down near the carcass, now taking a more serious tone; a dead body up a tree is a novelty, but on the ground it becomes a tragedy.

"There are certainly more pleasant ways of starting your day."

"You said it. Poor sod..." The hyena nudged the cheetah's head sidewards, as to get a better look at his face, "This guy's still quite young... that's a shame..."

Rafiki thought his friend kept sitting next to the stiff a surprisingly long time. It didn't really surprise him though; regardless of how many misplaced yokes Sal popped every now and then, he wasn't actually an asshole. Rafiki wouldn't care to tolerate him otherwise.

"You okay, buddy?"

"Huh? Oh, I'm okay..."

"You're not turning soft, are you?" Rafiki teased.

"Nope. Old, maybe. Soft, never."

"Old? You're not even my age yet!"

"Hush, you shouldn't joke around, someone died here."

"Whatever, Softy. Need some help from here on?"

"No, I think I'm good now, at least for what the dead guy is concerned... Or wait, one more thing." The hyena suddenly seemed to have remembered something, "Do you have any idea when he died?"

"Well, since a cheetah up a tree is guaranteed to catch the eye, I'd say last night; you'd have noticed earlier otherwise. And he hasn't stiffened out yet, so that too points to last night..."

"All right, that's all I needed to know. I'll handle it from here."

"Man, you're pretty calm about this... I mean... we did just get a dead cheetah out of a tree... Shouldn't you – and me – be a bit more worried about that?"

"Naaa... Too early for that... I'll try freaking out once I've got my lunch. Besides, nothing ever happens around here. Not to say I'm excited, but... you know..." Sal shrugged, "Well, anyway, thanks for the help."

"No problem, glad to be of service. I guess you'll spend the rest of the day figuring out what happened here?" Rafiki yawned involuntarily.

"Pretty much. It ain't easy, but it's doing the good work. What do you still have lined up?"

"Get some breakfast, probably. In the afternoon, I was scheduled to meet with the young lion princes, Mufasa and... eh..."

"Taka?" Sal suggested.

"Yeah, him. Look at that, you're the last one I expected to be up to date with the lion royalty. Anyway, I'm supposed to initiate the little lions in some basic teachings, you know, stuff a future king should know..."

"Taka too? I thought Mufasa was the older one..."

"I could just as well teach it to them both at once; Taka might not become a king, but that doesn't mean he should become ignorant. Besides, should anything happen to Mufasa, we've got an educated backup – not to sound offensive, but you have to be pragmatic."

"How very calculating. So... Ahadi approves of the whole double-education thing?"

"He doesn't object," Rafiki shrugged. He had wanted to add that, in truth, Ahadi didn't actually care; he wasn't really that interested in his youngest son; all the attention went to Mufasa. Not that he treated Taka in a malign way, but the contrast between time spent with Mufasa and time spent with Taka was pretty staggering. Of course, Rafiki wasn't about to embarrass Ahadi in public, so he kept secret that last part. "But enough about the lions, man. What up with that sudden interest in the lions' affairs?"

"Nothing, I just like to keep track of how things roll around here, and in the Pridelands. That comes in handy with the stuff I do, you know..."

Rafiki couldn't help but snicker as he heard him say that: Sal had a way of making it sound as if he ran an extortion ring, or something. Of course, that wasn't the least bit true; quite to the contrary: the "stuff" he did was actually quite admirable. Most of his free time, the hyena spent trying to uphold the law all over the clan's territory.

* * *

_True, hyenas aren't exactly the most refined creatures, and they're usually not well liked, but Sal's clan still did do a good job at managing their territory, and most of that had to do with at least a minimal upholding of the law. Arguably, that's something they're even better at than lions, but only if they actually get to it – and let's face it, most hyena clans or lion prides are still miles away from that._

_Take the Graveyard Clan, for example. At the the time, among other animals living there, chaos still reigned supreme in their realm. The hyenas over there only focused on themselves, as opposed to Prideland-hyenas, who had actually put considerable effort in ruling what they saw as their subjects._

_What, you didn't know there's a difference between the two, Prideland hyenas and Graveyard hyenas? Never heard of Prideland-hyenas, I take it? Don't worry, we'll get there._

_But anyway, that's what Sal was all about: looking into disturbances of the peace great and small, and helping his partner, the clan's second in command, bring any troublemakers before the matriarch to settle the dispute, or put someone on trial if need be. Yes, those were the days, back when even the Prideland-hyenas were renowned for their just rule... I told you, these lands used to be a really, really nice place to live._

* * *

"Anyway, I'm running off now, good luck finding out what happened to the dead guy."

"Thanks for thy help, oh wise Shaman."

"Real funny, but I wouldn't quit my day job if I were you. See you around."

"Later."

Intent on seeking himself a quick breakfast, or rather brunch – it was nearing noon by now, after all, Rafiki took off. However, after only a couple of hundred meters, he suddenly heard Sal shouting his name again. What now, had the stiff woken up again; a zombie-cheetah? As if it hadn't been an awkward enough morning already, a zombie-cheetah would really be terrible for Rafiki's groove.

"Wait – don' tell me: zombie-cheetah?"

Sal stared at Rafiki in such a way that made the shaman suspect his remark had fallen really awkward, and with good reason.

"Sorry, my bad, forget I ever said that. What's up now?"

"Eh... Man, you weird, you know that? Anyway... I know I really shouldn't be asking this, you already told me you'll be busy this afternoon, but eh... I'll still ask." Sal really sounded – not to mention looked – really sheepish at times. Rafiki realized that was probably what he liked about him, and what helped him connect with other animals too, a real boon in his line of work; makes you forget he could bite your head off if he wanted to.

"Hey, go ahead, I have no life of my own except for helping others, after all..." Too much irony?

"Yeah, I know, the requests just don't stop today, sorry about that. But this one is important, it's about one of my kids..."

"It's nothing bad, I hope? How is the family anyway?"

"No, it's nothing bad. And the family is fine; thanks for asking. Anyway, it's about the youngest, he's been having some troubles sleeping..."

"You know, having trouble getting young pups to bed really isn't that uncommon." Rafiki yawned again – Sal's kid wasn't the only one having troubles sleeping.

"No, not like that... Look, it's a bit complicated, and I'm not into the details; Mary spend more times with the little ones, she'll be able to explain it better. So would you mind if me and Mary brought the kid over tonight, so you could have a quick look at him?"

Rafiki wasn't really opposed to that idea – after all, a big part of his job as a shaman was looking after the health of other animals, regardless of their race; that was his place in the Circle of Life, to do otherwise would be to go against it. But he already had his schedule overbooked that afternoon thanks to the little lion-princes coming over...

Then again, Rafiki though it would be nice if he got to see Mary again, Sal's partner, and second in command of the Prideland-hyenas. Apart from Sal, she was the only hyena he actually liked.

"All right, you know I can't turn you down when it comes to your kid's well-being. But keep in mind that the lions will probably be around the tree tonight as well, so... don't try saying anything you think of as remotely funny, all right? Ahadi isn't Mohatu, he might take offense if you say anything stupid."

"Don't worry, I can be a likable fellow if I want to – I just don't want to waste my likability on you!"

"That's exactly what I was talking about," smirked Rafiki, "All right, then I'll see you tonight. And eh, you know, watch out for the zombies..."

"Yeah... whatever, oddball... And thanks, I guess."

* * *

"So, esteemed Shaman, tell me, did the rascals behave themselves?"

"Honestly?" Rafiki smirked as he gazed at the two lion princes sitting at his feet. Their eyes did nothing short of beg Rafiki to spare them of any harsh criticism in front of Zuzu. But Rafiki wasn't so naive as to actually give any credence to their pretended innocence – and neither was Zuzu. "Not really. Taka didn't give me too much hassle, but Mufasa... a certified troublemaker!"

"Am not!" the young lion immediately blurted, earning him an irritated sigh from Rafiki.

"Yes you are!" Taka immediately retorted.

"No I'm not! They're lying, aunt Zuzu!"

"If it's the word of the Shaman against that of a little troublemaker, I think I'll go with the former," Zuzu replied as stern she could, "_Little_ Sire, we went over this already, Rafiki is the Shaman, and you were told to treat him with respect and do as he says. And now I hear this? Your father will be very disappointed!"

Hardly, Rafiki thought. At the very worst, Ahadi would find it amusing. But of course, that wasn't what he would tell Mufasa; he'd discipline him and tell him to behave, even though the King knew damn well that back in his own youth, he'd been ten times worse when it came to behaving. That's a little hypocrisy sometimes called educating.

In a sign of growing tactical insight and intelligence, Mufasa decided to stop pretending he had behaved and switched to a position easier to hold onto. That came out something like this:

"No, wait! Okay, I, didn't listen _all_ the time, but please, don't tell dad! He'll get mad at me!"

"Nice try, little Sire, but I'm not lying to your father."

"Besides, I was gonna tell on you either way!" grinned Taka.

"Now that' not nice, Taka, you shouldn't tell on others," Rafiki intervened.

"But dad said we should tell him if anyone did anything wrong..." Mufasa remembered, glad that the conversation was steering away from his mischief that midday. In stead of learning anything, he had spent most of his time playing hide and seek with Rafiki – Mufasa hid, and an annoyed Rafiki sought.

"He did? Well... hmmm... eh... I guess your dad is right then, if he said it, I guess..."

Of course Rafiki hadn't meant what he had jut said, but it's important you don't give young kids too much conflicting messages, because nuance is really lost on them – and besides, what business was it of Rafiki to doubt King Ahadi's words in the matter?

"Anyway... is Ahadi still coming 'round to pick up the princes, or will it be Uru? Or is it just you?"

"No, it's not _just_ her," an elegant voice suddenly boomed behind Rafiki. The entire crowd quickly turned around to see a giant lion appearing out of the brush, his dark manes and tan fur perfectly fitting his muscly build.

"Sire!

"Your highness!"

"Dad!"

"And a good evening to all of you too," Ahadi replied while Mufasa and Taka ran towards him. He briefly nuzzled the cubs, but then regained his rather stern composure.

"So Mufasa, tell me, how was your first day of learning? Not too upset to be away from home so long at a time?"

"Easy pie!"

"Oh really? Well well, you're certainly acting like a big lion already – but did you behave like that too? You didn't give the Shaman too hard a time, did you?"

"Eh..."

"About that..." Zuzu silently uttered. Ahadi frowned mildly.

"So you didn't behave entirely as you should have?"

Mufasa shook his head slowly, and looked down. He actually looked a bit afraid.

"Well, that's a pity... We'll have to talk about that once we get home. Anyway, I'm proud of you either way, Mufasa. By the way, Shaman, did Taka behave himself?"

"Like a model student," Rafiki nodded.

"That's good to hear. Now..." Without too much ado, Ahadi passed by the subject of his youngest son. Both Zuzu and Rafiki could see the cub looked disappointed when he realized he wouldn't be addressed directly by his father. If not mean, it sure was a bit unfair of the King, really.

"Now, tell me, what did you get around to teach them?"

"Eh... Well, you know, your highness, just some basics. It's their first lesson, after all..." Rafiki couldn't quite bring himself to tell Ahadi that the cubs hadn't really learned anything because of Mufasa's mischief earlier, and because of Rafiki's lack of teaching experience.

Suddenly, Ahadi startled upon hearing a sound in some bushes nearby.

"Were you expecting someone?" Ahadi quietly whispered without as much as blinking, or looking around.

"Well, it's probably just..."

Obviously, Ahadi's question had been just rhetorical, because he didn't even bother to hear what Rafiki had to say. In a smooth, leaping motion, he turned around and rushed toward the origin of the noise. Rafiki couldn't help but consider Ahadi's reaction not entirely appropriate, even a bit paranoid.

_Seriously, it's just some noise, calm down..._

"Who's there?" the lion suddenly growled, fangs bared, "Show yourselves!"

A short silence ensued.

"I told you we'd be early..." someone in the bushes suddenly murmured.

As Ahadi slowly backed away, two figures appeared on the scene. Cursing himself for having failed to remember they would be visiting, Rafiki recognized them almost instantly.

"Wait, Ahadi – I mean, Sire – you probably don't wanna be eh... be all wound up. They're friendlies," Rafiki cautiously suggested, still a bit wary of Ahadi's overreacting. The King cast a quick glance back at Rafiki, his frown intensifying with each passing second. He looked back at the visitors.

"Are they now? My Shaman tells me you're harmless. So, are you?"

"Eh... well... eh... Sorry, it's just that you're kind of intimidating, being twice my size and all... So I take it you are...?"

"Ahadi, son of Mohatu, King of all the Pridelands. And who are you?"

"We eh... We're the neighbors, kind off. Hi! I'm Sal, this is Mary."

The hyena next to Sal put the pup she held in her mouth down momentarily.

"Eh... right, I'm Mary. An honor to meet you, your majesty!" she stuttered, after which she bowed down respectfully. After having Mary kick him gently in the flank, Sal followed suit.

"Sire, they were... kind of... visiting this afternoon... Sorry, I should have probably mentioned earlier, but eh... I didn't, obviously," Rafiki interrupted, before Ahadi could ask any follow-up questions.

"Right... So I take it they belong to Agathe's clan?"

"She's my sister, actually..." Mary interrupted.

"Yeah, Mary's actually Agathe's second in command, so... you were probably bound to meet sometime anyway, you know," Rafiki mumbled.

"Yeah, probably," Ahadi scoffed, "So, hyenas, might I inquire as to why you are here?"

"Well, seeing as this is border territory and not the Pridelands, I don't think that's any of your..." Sal grumbled, feeling a bit annoyed by Ahadi's air, only to be interrupted by Mary kicking him again, "Aw! That hurt!"

"Shut up, dear. What he meant to say, your majesty, was that we had made an appointment with the Shaman this very afternoon. We wanted him too have a look at our youngest pup, little Mikhail over here." Mary stepped back, revealing the pup that had been hiding behind her front legs the moment she'd put it down on the ground. "But if your majesty still had business to take care of, we would be most happy to wait in line..."

"Why thank you, how considerate of you to let _the king_ go first," Ahadi smiled venomously, "But that won't be necessary. I'm done here. Mufasa, Taka, come over here, we're going home."

"Yes sir!" both cubs replied simultaneously, after which they started following Ahadi. Of course, they first cast another stare at those strange hyena-creatures, as they hadn't ever before seen one of those.

"Zuzu, are you coming?"

"No, sire, my apologies. I'm sticking around, with your permission."

"As you wish. But make sure you get back in time, before the next batch of animals comes around for an audience with me; you know how lost I can get without you. See you then!" Ahadi smiled, after which he turned around again and left with Mufasa and Taka. The remaining animals stayed silent until the king was long out of hearing distance. Suddenly, Rafiki grabbed his staff and beat Sal on the head with it, hard.

"Aw! What the hell? Why is everyone beating up on me today?"

"Don't you start pretending to be the victim here!" Mary snarled at Sal, "Rafiki was right to beat you up! What was that all about anyway? It figures you'd be the one to start dissing the king..."

"All right, all right, sorry! I won't do it again, I promise..."

"All right, I'll take your word for it," Mary smiled, after which she gently nuzzled Sal.

"But I still think Ahadi's a douche..." Sal grinned, swiftly followed by yet another beating by Rafiki.

"Watch your mouth, there are kids around," the Shaman repudiated the hyena after that second trashing, "Talking of which, didn't you come over here to tell me what was troubling your son?"

Since Sal was preoccupied with being in pain after Rafiki beat him up again, Mary stepped forward to explain the situation in his stead.

"Well, yes, there have been some issues. Sorry, Rafiki, you know we'd be the last ones to trouble you for anything insignificant, but ..."

"Hey, just glad to be of service; it's what I do. Go ahead, tell what the problem is."

"Well, the problem is that we don't know what the problem is, so to speak. So we figured it'd be best if we had you take a look at little Mikhail," Marry carefully suggested as she pushed her pup back from hiding behind her forepaws again. Like all hyena pups at his age, he was still almost completely black of fur. Not to mention pretty scared at the sight of the animal he only knew as a "shaman" or "rafiki".

"All right, cool by me. I'll look out for any physical ailments, whilst you try to explain what it is exactly that worries you..."

When Rafiki tried to approach the pup, however, it tried to cower behind his mother's paws again.

"Mom!"

"Don't worry, sweetie, he won't hurt you. His name's Rafiki, he's a friend..."

"But he's scary! And he hurt dad..."

"Only because dad deserved a thorough beating," Mary smiled, "Now, act brave, be a good little pup and let Rafiki take a look at you..."

"Yeah, don't be afraid, little fellow, I won't hurt ya..." Rafiki whispered soothingly as he reached over to the pup. The moment the shaman's hand got in range, however, the little hyena snapped his teeth at one of the fingers. Rafiki could only just in time pull back his hand.

"Holy fu – eh... I mean, ouch, that sure was inconvenient, "Rafiki yelped, after which he quickly regained some of his composure, "Wow, where'd you get those teeth all of a sudden, little dude?"

"I was born with 'em," the pup growled.

_Touché on his part_, Rafiki considered, _strange creatures, hyenas_.

"Come on, kiddo, be cool. He's really not that bad, if you get over the regular beatings that is," Sal mumbled, still a bit dazed. Not really feeling like going against both his parents, Mikhail ultimately decided to do as he was told and cautiously skulked forward.

"All right then, let's try keeping my hand in one piece, shall we," Rafiki grimaced, at this point just as cautious as his patient was, "Now, I forgot, what was the actual problem again?"

"He doesn't sleep right..."

"Uh huh... you wouldn't happen to feel like elaborating on that a bit?" Rafiki took a look at the pup's eyes. Nothing peculiar, just two greenish eyes.

_Doesn't rally look energetic though... probably just lazy..._

"I don't know, he's just got a weird sleeping pattern, I suppose. We didn't really notice before, but then we moved him to the communal den only about a few weeks ago. And now, I've been getting all sorts of complaints from the babysitters, about how he's always keeping everyone up, and wakes up while he should still be sleeping 'bout half a day. He even got thrown out of the den for waking everyone up and getting into a fight..."

"They started it..." Mikhail protested.

"Undoubtedly... say 'aah' for me... nope..." Rafiki seemed a bit confused. "No, nothing. He's a healthy as a... eh... as someone who's pretty healthy anyway. Congratulations, I guess..." Rafiki hesitated for a second, but then carefully petted the pup. To everyone's surprise, no-one got bitten.

"So... there's nothing? He's perfectly all right?"

"Pretty much. I'm guessing he just doesn't need that much sleep. It happens, not that often, but you shouldn't worry about it. Frankly, I see an upside to it: the less time you spend sleeping, the more you can go around and... well, you know, like, do stuff."

"Doesn't that like mean I'm... not exactly normal?" the pup wondered, seemingly a bit worried. Aware of how sensitive young kids are of superficial differences and how they tend to make a big thing out if it (having experienced it firsthand when still a youngling-mandrill), Rafiki decided to nip that little problem in the bud.

"No, it just means you sleep less. You should see it as a plus, a gift even. Enjoy it while it lasts, 'cause when you get older, you'll never have enough time for pretty much anything..."

"Oh... All right... I guess..." the young hyena didn't sound convinced. His loss, Rafiki considered.

Meanwhile, it seemed Mary had remembered Zuzu was still around, judging by their loud greeting. Not particularly interested, Rafiki tuned in and out of their conversation. Most of it was about the two mothers' respective children: Zuzu's Zazu, and Mary's daughter, Jahina, and her before mentioned younger son. The rest of the conversation was about their respective duties, which shared some similarities: both focused mostly on keeping the peace and protecting the daily routine of the Circle of life. A lot of time was spent theorizing on how to do that just, fast and effective. It occurred to Rafiki that he'd probably be expected to teach the lion princes about those kind of thing too, all the 'law and order'-stuff, even though he really didn't know squat about it. The shaman was 'supposed' to know and do a lot of things, actually – and it goes without say Rafiki found himself improvising most of that. For those lessons he was supposed to teach the princes, it would most likely be the same story.

"Mister?"

"Huh?" Rafiki stared down at the hyena pup a bit confused, "'Mister'? You're calling me 'Mister' now? Didn't you try to gnaw my hand of just now?"

"I'm sorry, I really didn't mean to..."

"Undoubtedly. So, what's the matter?"

"Do you live here?"

"Uh, yeah, pretty much..."

"You look funny..."

"That's 'cause he's a baboon..." Sal interrupted the back-and-forth.

"Mandrill," Rafiki corrected him, a bit annoyed.

"Yeah, that too. Sorry, Rafiki, kids always get annoying when they're bored. Especially mine..."

"I don't mind. I'm just as bored, actually," Rafiki whispered, careful not to disturb the Mary and Zuzu, who kept blabbing away, "But judging by the rate those two keep chattering... you guys are stuck here 'till the cows come home. Unless you decide to leave without the missis..." Rafiki lowered his voice to a low mumbling, "But you really don't have the sack for that..."

"Dick," the hyena growled under his breath, even though he was actually amused.

"Dad, what're you and mister Rafiki talking about?"

"Nothing, kiddo. Besides, you really shouldn't be listening in on a grown-up conversation..."

_Grown up, yeah right..._

"Sorry..."

"Hey, don't worry. You're bored, I know – I am too. How 'bout we find you something too keep busy?"

"Something fun?" the pup's eyes suddenly filled themselves with a glow of enthusiasm – it'd be the first fun thing to happen to him after a day of getting into fights and getting hauled around by his parents.

"Maybe. Wait here, let me go get something..." Rafiki swiftly disappeared into his tree's foliage, coming out moments later carrying something looking like a small container. Sal judged it was probably a hollowed-out gourd or something.

"Did your dad ever teach you how to paint?"

"Say what?"

"Paint. To a spread a colored substance on a surface and make the result look like something familiar. Your dad's actually pretty good at it."

"You're giving me too much credit," Sal smirked, dismissing Rafiki's remark, even though he was quick to push Rafiki into letting him try the paint out.

"So... how does it work?" Mikhail wondered, seeing his dad dip his paw into the gourd.

"It's easy, wait... Rafiki, could you get me some bark or something?"

Rafiki quickly scoured the surroundings for some dried bark, quickly coming up with a large, bone dry fragment, and handed it over.

"All right, thanks. Now... how 'bout a nice portrait of our dear Shaman?"

"What? A portrait?" Rafiki raised his eyebrows in suspicion, "All right, that could work, you want me to pose for you or something?"

"No, I'm good... like could forget what your ugly head looks like..."

"That's novel, a hyena calling me ugly. Especially one as hideous as you."

"Goody, I'm an ugly hyena, hadn't heard that before," Sal smirked, quickly putting the final touches on his piece, "All right, finished!"

"Already?" Both Rafiki and Mikhail seemed a bit surprised.

"Yep, and I must say, it bears you an uncanny semblance!"

"Oh really? Gimme that..." Duly aware of the mischievous look on Sal's face, Rafiki quickly scooped up the piece of bark his friend had been working on. Rafiki needed only to stare at the creation less than a second to realize what was on it.

"What the... Oh god dammit, I could've guessed. You went for the cock-joke. Lame. Really, really lame..."

Without further ado, Rafiki broke the bark into as much fragments as possible, throwing them all in Sal's direction. It didn't ease the laughing fit he had gotten himself into one bit. Mikhail, having been unable to see what it was his dad had painted, could only stare in confusion.

"Mister Rafiki... What's dad laughing about?"

"Long story. You'll find out once you get older... But enough about that, it's time we got you to develop some artistic skills as well," Rafiki replied a bit annoyed. He quickly set the pup up with all he needed, being the paint, and some bark. After giving him some basic guidelines, he let the kid go at it alone. Like all things new, the pup seemed to find it pretty exciting. He'd be entertained with that for some time, gave Rafiki time to focus on his hyena friend again.

Meanwhile, Sal seemed to have gotten his act together again too, although all that laughing whilst nearly rolling on the ground after confronting Rafiki with his portrait seemed to have landed him an annoying hiccup.

"You're about done?"

"Hehe, sorry," Sal needed a moment to get all the tears he'd gotten from laughing too much out of his eyes, "It's just that you're always making it so damn easy on me to make you look like an ass. Can't help it!"

"Undoubtedly..."

"By the way, could you stop saying 'undoubtedly' all the time, please?"

"Perhaps..."

"And don't you start saying perhaps all the time in stead..."

"Perhaps..." Rafiki grinned widely, "All right, enough with this nonsense... Man, are they still going at it?"

Both animals cast a quick glance at Mary and Zuzu. They noticed Mary had by now decided to sit down, and Zuzu had flown down from the tree she was sitting on before. They weren't finished, not by a long shot.

"Dude, you shouldn't be so denigrating. They're important animals, they talk about important stuff..." To Rafiki's surprise, Sal actually sounded a bit annoyed at Rafiki's 'still going at it' comment.

"Wow, chill, I didn't mean to be offensive. Cute that you're sticking up for your darling, though."

"Weren't you going to cut the nonsense?"

"All right, all right, cool down... Man, now I forgot what I wanted to ask..." The shaman yawned, trying to remember what he was talking about. "Oh yeah! What ended up happening with that whole dead-cheetah situation? You know, the one I had to get outa that tree."

"Oh, that... Not much, actually. After you got him down, I had a look at the dude's wounds. Someone broke the poor guy's neck."

"So it's murder? You sure? I mean, I don't think there's been one since the Rogue War. How do you handle something like that?"

"I improvise, duh. First thing you always have to do is find out what happened exactly, regardless of whether it's murder or something more commonplace like theft. That's what I think anyway. So I'll just try to find out what happened and who's involved. Find out who the dead kid was, and who killed him. Since only apes or leopards could get the body up a tree, I don't think I'll have to look far. I'm pretty sure it was a leopard, actually, judging by the distinctively feline cuts I found on the body. So going on that I spent the rest of the day getting in touch with the clan's leopard and cheetah contacts. If I'm lucky, I'll know who the dead guy is in one of the coming days, or who killed him. I'll play it by ear from there..."

"Well at least you seem to know what you're doing. 't Sounds pretty exciting, actually..."

"Not really. I'd prefer hanging out with Mary and the kids, or my brother and his family. Not with you, though, I really loathe being around you."

"There we go with the nonsense again..." Rafiki snickered upon hearing that last line, "Anyway, try to keep me informed, I'd really appreciate that."

"Hey, no problem. Not that it is in any way relevant to you, but all right. By the way,what's your story? You been doin' anything worth mentioning today?"

"Nope. Just educating the lion princes, Ahadi's kids. To tell you the truth..." Rafiki started whispering, making sure Zuzu didn't hear what he said, "I don't have clue of what I'm doing most of the time..."

"Improvising too, huh?"

"Oh yeah."

"Mister Rafiki?"

"Huh? Oh, it's you," Rafiki glanced down at Mikhail. Judging by the paint hanging all over the pup's body, he'd finished his painting. "What's up?"

"Is educating fun?"

_There he goes with the questions again. Sure does ask a lot of them. He'll get over it once he gets older. Either that, or he'll get in trouble._

"Educating? No, not rally. Hard work, actually. But I think you meant being educated. That's more of a mixed bag: if you're eager to learn, it's a thrill, all those new insights. Otherwise, it's pretty boring..."

"Wow, kiddo, what have you done to your fur?" Sal suddenly interrupted, only now realizing how dirty his son had gotten himself, "Rafiki, please tell me that comes off easy..."

"It's not poisonous..."

"Whoopty-doo. But that wasn't what I asked. Can we get rid of it easily?"

"I wouldn't know, I don't usualy pill it all over myself. Wait, and see what happens. Maybe this problem sorts itself out?"

"I'd better!" Mary suddenly thrust herself in the conversation. Her talk with Zuzu apparently hadn't lasted as long as Sal had thought it would. "Some work you two are. I leave you to watch him for two minutes, and this happens!"

"Actually, it was more than two minutes..." Sal whispered only slightly audible. Silent enough for his partner not to hear. Meanwhile, Mary rushed over to Mikhail, franticly trying to lick him clean, with some, if limited, success.

"I'm sorry mom, I didn't mean to..." Mary's pup was quick to place the blame on himself, almost sounding almost genuinely saddened. Maybe righteously so, but Mary didn't seem to think so.

"Don't feel sorry, sweetie, don't feel sorry even one little bit. In fact, how 'bout you blame your father along with me? Yeah, let's both blame your dad!"

"Great, now she's even got the minors teamed up against me..."

"The victim card is really getting old, Sal, find another excuse to be irresponsible already," Zuzu added pointedly, "All right folks, I'll have to leave now. I've still got chicks waiting for me – not to mention Ahadi... I don't know which one would last longer without me. See you guys! And I loved talking with you again, Mary!"

"My pleasure! If you want to get my ideas on something again, just drop by my place – but not immediately, I still have a kid to clean and a man to kick around."

"Will do. Good luck beating some sense into Sal. See you guys! And good luck keeping up the teaching, Rafiki!"

"Will do," Rafiki had a hard time trying to sound convincing, mostly because he had a hard time believing himself, "See ya, Zuzu!"

"All right, I think we'll be leaving now too. Thanks for the good care, Rafiki – but next time, keep the paint away from my son, if possible."

"Will do. Bye Mary, Bye Sal, Bye Mikhail."

"Goodbye, mister Rafiki."

"Yeah, I'll see your ass later. Have fun teaching those little lion brats..." Understandably, Sal was peeved after Mary had come down on him. Yet that wasn't what Rafiki focused on. He couldn't help but think about the last part of what Sal said while leaving, and the first part of what Mary had said.

_Thanks for the good care – have fun teaching the lion brats._

That was his life now: teaching, caring after anyone needing it, being the land's up-link to the Kings of the Past... In short, being relied upon by countless animals. And he'd be at it all alone.

His old mentor, the previous shaman, had been gone for almost a year. Mohatu had by now faded into memory. School was out for Rafiki, but it just didn't sink in – not yet anyway. That'd probably take another chapter or two in the Shaman's ongoing life journey.


End file.
